Of Emeralds and Opals
by TimeLordOfPie
Summary: Sequel to River of Opals. In which there is political reform, science, violence, and a world learning how to get along without being run by evil creatures. At least, until more evil creatures decide to try their hands at it. Warning: language, violence, mentions of torture, and various other things.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a** _ **sequel**_ **. Trust me, you won't have a clue what's going on unless you read the first one, 'River of Opals'. You've been warned.**

The dimension that is between dimension is guarded by a creature known as Truth. When you find a rift, he'll be there, snarkily telling you to be on your way. And unless you're me, then you do what you're told. But someone was dying. And I've known the pain of being helpless and having people watch and do nothing. So I made a trade, and abandoned my home dimension. My new world was one that I had known already. A world that I had only just been introduced to as a heartbreaking story. Had I been anyone else then things would have gone a lot differently there. But I'm me. With my memory comparable to a computer, and encyclopedic knowledge of anything and everything someone probably wouldn't even _want_ to know. Oh, I followed the anime, I let some things happen and prevented others. But I'm flawed. I would say 'I'm human' but with some of my mistakes it seems false at times. After it ended, all of it that was supposedly set in stone and the story was supposedly finished, I was allowed to stay. The written story was over. No more meddling needed. This story, is mine.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up in a hospital the day after the coup. I was in the most uncomfortable chair in existence, sitting at the bedside of an emaciated blonde, his older brother chatting with him almost nonstop. I tuned out the conversation, aware that they could go on like this for a few more hours without noticing that the rest of the world _also_ had people in it, and they weren't alone. The window showed none of the destruction that surrounded headquarters, but the bustling in the halls gave away the turned over anthill that was the government at the moment. It was only a matter of time until I was forced to join in all the insanity, injuries or no. The little torture sessions at the hands of the 'god' left me twitchy, but medically I was fine. Which meant I was free game as a paper sorter.

I'd been using the excuse of watching over Alphonse to keep me here, but I really had no choice other than have someone hook up a vitamin drip and let him roll from there. He was physically okay, if unhealthily skinny. Gracia was called and arrived with a homecooked meal for him, no hospital food allowed for his first taste of _anything_ in years. The remains of it were on the tray laid ignored across Al's lap, the room haphazardly arranged by a half-asleep Edward. My coat was by the door, hanging innocently from a coat rack. If you didn't know me you wouldn't be aware of the virtual armory that was in the various pockets. And keepsakes, journals, supplies, personal items, it was a portable storage shed. I had black and white photographs of myself with Captain America in the same pocket as the Russian translation of the Hobbit. Good luck stealing _my_ shit.

The door opened and I held in an overly dramatic death wail. Maes. Back in military uniform. He'd obviously explained away how he'd faked his death, and then gotten his position back. I scanned my eyes over the ribbons and brass. Yeah, even kept his posthumous promotion. But that expression meant we had work to do.

"Come with me Arcaro, we've got things to do." Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

I uncurled from the chair, wincing at the various cracks and pops, stretching slightly once I was standing.

"Well, guess break time's over. See you later boys, you need anything at all you call me."

I swung on my coat before following Maes out the door, hearing the Elrics call their goodbyes after me. Maes lead the way through the halls, and I couldn't help but grin. Just like old times. He got me up to speed on the state of everything the moment we were in the car.

"There've been some power plays by some, well, most of the Generals. Those that were involved on the wrong side of this mess who weren't killed are in cells at the moment, pending trial. The official story was decided on sometime late yesterday or last night, I wasn't involved. Roy tells me that to avoid inciting panic they're going to laude Bradley as a fallen hero and pin the blame on Kimblee and a few other 'rouge cannons'. You're going to get a medal for being the one take down Kimblee, and for having a part in taking down the mysterious leader of the terrorist organization."

"I don't want a medal for what I did to Kimblee."

"Well, there's not much of a body left, they say the one called Pride ate him but we can't admit that Homunculi were involved, or that they even _exist_. So you'll just have to grin and bear it."

I didn't like that one bit. But there wasn't much arguing I could do, especially since Maes just continued with his briefing.

"Succession was hazy at best, Bradley probably had it that way on purpose so he didn't have to worry as much about assassination. We had everyone and their mother trying to grab the position of head honcho, but eventually Grumman from Easter Command got it. Roy knows him from way back, he's been deemed trustworthy enough. We at least know that he wasn't in on any of this mess. Olivier is staying in Central for a little bit, thought I heard through the grapevine that she's been ordered to take her men and return to Briggs by next week."

"I imagine she isn't very happy with that."

"Oh, she's furious, but she knows better than to argue with orders at a time like this."

Was that a hint? He continued on before I could ask.

"You'll be staying on Roy's team for now, though you'll probably be returned to my command eventually. At the moment we just need to get everything put back together before our neighbors realize we've got our pants around our ankles while we trip around everywhere."

I snorted at the image,

"Do you need me running interference with Drachma? I would offer to learn Xingese, but we're friends with their soon to be emperor so I doubt we have trouble coming in from that quadrant. Hmmm, how are Aerugo and Creta looking?"

"No idea, that's the problem. We're so out of sorts at the moment that none of our foreign intell is being processed."

"Want me to get on that?"  
"No, all State Alchemists are to report to the rebuilding effort. I managed to convince our new higher ups that Edward lost his automail arm and is currently worse than useless."

Well, technically the automail arm _is_ gone, it's just been replaced with a flesh and blood one. But the chances of him leaving Alphonse at the moment are slim to none. Maes intruded upon my thoughts,

"You up to helping with that magic bullshit? I'm told you got hit a few times by Father with some strange technique, should you really be up and about?"

"I'm medically sound, it's all in my head at the moment."

"Sometimes that's the worst place for it to be."  
I rolled my eyes,

"Just drop me off where they need some pretty sparks."

For the rest of the journey he regaled me with the story of how he was welcomed by his family. He had expected to be brought under suspicion, accused of being an imposter, or for them to be angry with him for staying away from them. He waxed poetic almost the entire time about his accepting family, and how apparently they had suspected something was up with his death because of me.

"You gave up the game Arcaro, you of all people. Who knew you would let something slip to a four year old."

"I can't be on my guard at _all_ times, my mental state would be in a worse state than it already is! Besides, I didn't even realize anything I was saying was suspicious."

"It wasn't. It was what you _weren't_ saying. You never talked about me in past tense to them. You never admitted I was dead. They know how you feel about lying and technical truths. You're tricky, I'll give you that, but you were beaten by a four year old so…."

When we arrived the State Alchemists who had been called in to fix things were already at it, sketching circles, consulting blueprints, and arguing with one another. I walked through whistling the song from Snow White and the Seven dwarves, _hi ho, hi ho, hi ho hi ho…._

They might need to argue about what went where, but I could see in my head what it used to look like and then bend science to put it back in place. Of course I didn't replicate things like water damage, or cracks but things were mostly the same, just newer. Entire buildings weren't untouched and then we'd get to places where those damned _tanks_ had driven over everything.

 _Why did I pay for those little shits again?_

I went from somewhere near dawn to midday before I couldn't manage anymore. Alchemy takes it out of people, there is a price to everything, equivalent exchange, and in order to access the energy and control it, you give up some of your own. All that's left after that is a nap and a good meal. From then on I was an advisor, directing where materials should go and how they should be utilized. Not all of it was going to be repaired using alchemy. A good bit of it was actually going to be contracted out to civilians. Grummans idea, I'm told. The soldiers didn't like it, but I understood where he was coming from. It created jobs, and was a small step in bringing the civilians and military closer. As it was the military lorded over the citizens of Amestris. I had a feeling that was going to change soon.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	3. Chapter 3

At the time when normally everyone would have headed home we instead headed inside. I saw many many all nighters in our future. To everyone else the coup had been about a day of actual fighting, starting before dawn. For Edward and I we had been gone to World War Two for a week, struggling through a different warzone before being catapulted back into this one. I wanted to go home. I wanted my bed, a _soda_ , and some sleep. I had to settle for the soda.

We were gathered in our office, all those who had been leaders of the rebellion, including Izumi Curtis and her husband. We were an odd group at best, and I didn't see much good coming from the lot of us being shoved into a small-ish space together. I was in a constant state of annoyed and ready to go home, right up until Jean arrived. Bless him, he came with soda. He had a six pack of them, and at first I thought it was beer. Right up until he handed me one. I glanced at the label and in a quarter of a second the lid was off and half of it was downed. I stopped to breathe, grinning at him,

"Thanks."  
He rolled his eyes, sitting heavily in a seat beside me.

"Don't thank me, Maes called, saying you were going through withdrawal. This wasn't for you, it was for _our_ protection."

"Still, I appreciate it."  
Roy and Olivier walked in, now wearing full uniform and stern expressions. The military personnel amongst our bunch jumped up to attention, only for Roy to wave us away. I slumped back into my chair, hissing. I had used too much alchemy in the past few days, but today was the kicker. I had joint pains, muscle pains, brain pain, though that last bit was fading now that I had caffeine. The two superior officers disappeared into Roy's office and Jean ruffled my hair,

"You okay there, midget?"

I lazily slapped his hand away.

"You'd feel like shit too if your orders had been to zap a few buildings into place. Honestly, these people. 'Just poof them back the way they were, you can do that, right? I mean the pieces are still here so it's all equal...' I oughta throw em in a lake."

Captain Buccaneer sniggered, but Jean ignored him.

"Well...you can, right?"

I rolled my eyes,

"It takes energy, Jean. Use to much and it makes old wounds ache, and the newer ones bleed faster. You can't get something for nothing, therefore you can't just use magic sparkle shit without there being more of a handicap than only using what's available to you."

Buccaneer butted in,

"Little midget, I think I like you. Calling your own art 'magic sparkle shit'."

He was wheezing a bit from laughing and I just raised an eyebrow at him.

"I grew up somewhere a bit different. To me, alchemy _is_ magic sparkly bullshit with very complicated rules."

Izumi Curtis huffed slightly over in her dark corner with her husband.

"It's not like you pay any attention to said rules. But I'm grateful either way. You saved both of my students, from what I understand."  
I opened my mouth to reply when I was cut off by the opening of the door to Roy's inner office area. Olivier was the first out, eyes sweeping over the group before they came to rest on me. That can't be good. She stalked closer, taking the seat Buccaneer had vacated for her. She crossed her legs, watching me from under hooded eyes.

"Explain yourself."

Out of habit I glanced at Roy, only to see he wasn't looking at us, arms crossed, and eyes on his feet. I turned back to Olivier.

"I'm not sure what you mean."  
"I mean that creature yesterday was convinced that you were not 'fully mortal'. It said you came from beyond, whatever that means. Even Fullmetal believed it. So, explain."

I never really thought that the day would come when I would have to explain myself. I never thought I would have to tell them the truth about me, the full truth. Well, I'm never going to divulge that their existence was an anime. That shit was just asking for trouble.

I settled back in my chair, determined to look nonchalant.

"I refuse to explain to a superior officer."

She looked ready to explode, but I continued.

"To tell the story of my life to someone who I've fought beside...that would be acceptable. But the military is a sieve at the moment. I'm not telling it shit."

Her face cleared in understanding and I saw her mouth quirk into something resembling a smile before it was gone and she nodded.

"Very well."  
I stared at my soda for a second before sighing,

"There's really no true way to explain this, so I'll probably botch it. Let's start with where I'm _truly_ from. The United States of America, on Earth, the third planet from the sun, in a solar system that is located in the Orion arm of the Milky Way. None of that means anything to you, I'm sure. What you need to know, is that it is another dimension. A different plane of existence. It was there that I was born, in the year 1995."

There were murmurs at that and I rolled my eyes,

"Yes, yes, I went through dimensions and back in time. In any case I changed dimensions in the year 2013. My older brother Taylor was training to be a Doctor, he was away at the time. My Aunt Liz was there, brewing up something experimental in the kitchen. I took a walk to the library, and in an alleyway saw a man lying there, injured. I tried to reach him, only to hit a wall that I couldn't see. I attempted to break the barrier only to be faced with a creature made entirely of white, that called itself Truth. Using the raw energy from a handheld modern amenity that most everyone carried with them I bought my passage through. The man's name was Private Kyle Morriston. The next day I met the homunculus called Bradley and was thrown face first into the military. I can only assume he did so to keep an eye on me. I'm told all of the homunculi were able to sense something... _off_ about me."

I took a drink of my soda before continuing.

"Really, the lot of you know the rest."

The soldier called Miles raised an eyebrow behind his snow glasses,

"So you were just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"Sure, we'll call it that."

Riza sighed,

"So when you said you couldn't get home…"

I nodded,

"Because I didn't know how. I do now of course, but there's no way in hell it's worth all of the trouble."

Olivier sniffed disdainfully,

"You're letting a little 'trouble' keep you from your family and where you belong?"

I responded blandly,

"Noooo, I'm letting the fact that it would take several hundred human souls as sacrifice keep me from my family. And last I checked, I paid a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and taxes to this place, I think I've earned the right to 'belong' a little bit."  
That particular discussion ended, and we went on to our plans for the future. The Briggs guys would return to the mountain, and I promised to train a translator to send up there sometime after them. After all of the business was put in order, our stories given to us and memorized, we were dismissed. Jean caught a cab with me, and we headed home. I breathed in the smell of it, sighing in relief. Good to be home. And really, I spent so long pinning after the place that part of me knew was gone that I didn't really see what I already had. It wasn't until I was crawling out of a two hour scalding hot shower that I realized Roy hadn't even glanced my way. My official version of things had been passed down the row. Any questions for me had come from Olivier or Riza, or answered by either. Was he angry with me for ignoring his orders, and bringing back Al in the end anyway? Surely he would be fine with it, it worked didn't it? Maybe it was the principle of the thing, he said no and I did it anyway.

My worries were cut short when I fell into bed. Home sweet home.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	4. Chapter 4

The next few weeks it was all about rebuilding Central command and restructuring the government. I helped with rebuilding and slid as many suggestions in as possible. Several of us were given promotions, myself included. I ended up as a Lt. Colonel, the same rank Roy was when all of this began. I was officially the youngest ever, shattering his record to pieces. He still wasn't talking to me, and I prayed it wasn't because he was angry. On Al's last day in the hospital I had finally completed one of my personal projects. I had searched the entire city for the perfect gift for him, and found it just in time. Hopefully Ed wouldn't have a cow.

I snuck into the room while the two of them were arguing over something and plopped the gift down in Al's lap. The two of them stopped and stared at for a few seconds, speechless up until it let out a pitiful mewling sound. Al tentatively reached out to touch the kitten, eyes wide with wonder.

"It's so soft!"

I grinned at him,

"I know. I spent a while searching the city for the fuzziest kitten I could find. This one was in a pet shop, already had his shots, and good to go."

I turned wary eyes to Edward, and Al did the same thing, kitten held protectively to his chest. Ed just rolled his eyes,

"My only excuse before was that we were traveling too much to take care of a cat, I don't see us traveling too often in the near future."

"Mustang told us you resigned."

He nodded, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Yeah, I wanted to take Al back to Resembool so he could see Granny and Winry, and hopefully recover quicker."

"Good idea. The country air will probably be good for him."

I turned back to Al, watching him play with the furry thing.

"What are you going to call him?"

"Patches!"

Both Edward and I winced, but Edward spoke first.

"Patches? Seriously?"

Al scowled at him,

"He's my kitten, I'll name him how I like! If it was left to you it'd be something like 'Captain Death Paws', and I can't inflict something like that on this cutie."  
I barely held in a snicker, but it didn't fool Edward. He glared at me,

"I heard that."  
I gave in, laughing full on,

"C-captain Death Paws? Is that really your idea of a name for a cat?"  
He looked away, blushing slightly,

"It's a badass name, alright?"

"For a _kitten_?"

"It can grow up to be a badass cat!"  
The clock in the hall started chiming and I groaned,

"I should go, all this political bullshit. Ugh, I have to placate all these higher ups and I've yet to dismantle my smuggling ring. So much to do, so little time."

Al looked affronted,

"You really had a smuggling ring? I thought Ed was joking!"  
I waved,

"Yup, gotta go Bye!"  
I ducked out the door, sniggering at the nagging I could hear. Edward got to say 'I told you so' for once. I had managed to get him to keep the class ring I had handed over in my moment of dramatics. I needed to let go of it, as a way to let go of my past home. And who better to take care of it than the Fullmetal Alchemist?

The policy changes themselves were difficult to put into place, and my little changes I needed made were able to slide under the table pretty quickly. My request to teach a few translators hadn't even been argued over. They'd shoved a few recruits at me and said 'Be our guest'. My reference to a talking candlestick hadn't gone over well.

Teaching is more difficult than learning, in my opinion. Most likely because people other than Edward and myself need to hear it or see it more than once to get it. I had to resort to some of the same exercises my Spanish teacher used. I sat down soldiers and made them use flashcards. I had a spare office to use as a sort of classroom after I had exhausted myself in the rebuilding effort. I crammed Drachman into their brain for a few hours and then went back to working for Roy. It was more like I was working for Riza actually, she was the one who I got orders from. Really I was a high enough rank to be given my own team, and this is when someone would usually demand to go their own way and then start their vicious climb up the ladder. I had no desire for another promotion. I didn't care for this political crap. I wanted to get shit done, make life better for people, get Roy the position he wanted, and then see what I wanted from there.

The first time someone tried to bribe me I laughed in their face. I hadn't meant to, it just struck me as funny that they thought money could make me do anything at all. I had money, plenty of it. My business was still very much flourishing, and very much illegal. We were working on trade laws to increase effectiveness, and trying to lower taxes. Grumman had wanted to up taxes to help with the rebuilding, but that was a momentously bad idea that even he knew wasn't going to end well. He was saved by an anonymous donation. Madame Christmas had thought I was crazy for giving a large sum of money away to the military, but she understood that taxing the citizens right now wouldn't be the smartest action.

After I finished with my Drachman students I had a meeting with the Fuhrer. He was well aware that I was smarter than I looked, and knew more than I let on. He didn't know I had more than 2000 years of human history memorized to take examples from, but that was probably for the best. Today I was going to push for one of the more controversial laws. The system of government in this place had no checks and balances, just the Fuhrer and his council okaying shit. Therefor if I impressed him I could get my stuff put in place.

It took four hours. I was dead to the world when I got home. The relief effort people didn't need me anymore so the next morning I was able to head straight to the office after my morning run to find a rather elaborate fruit basket on my desk. My officemates were crowded around it, Breda trying to goad Jean into seeing who it was from. Roy was watching from his doorway, trying, and failing, to not look curious. Just as Jean picked up the card I swiped it from him, scaring him into dropping his unlit cigarette onto the desk. I scowled at the cigarette, using my newspaper to push it into the trash.

"I wish you would quit smoking. I haven't been able to find a cure for lung cancer."

He raised an eyebrow, digging out another to chew on.

"You've been looking?"

"Of course. If you insist on tempting fate then I'm going to have to save you from your own stupidity."

I wouldn't have thought to use alchemy to cure cancer if I hadn't been worried about Jean contracting it. As it was I was getting nowhere because of all the extra stuff on my plate. I drapped my coat over the back of my chair, flipping open the card from the basket and quirking a smile. Jean tried to read it upside down,

"Who's 'Madame Christmas'?"

Roy's eyes zeroed in on me,

"What does she want?"  
First time he's spoken to me in almost two months. I shrugged,

"It just says thanks, bless you dear, you're always welcome at my place, that sort of thing."

"What did you do?"

He sounded slightly suspicious, and I rolled my eyes, flopping down in my seat.

"Nothing much lately. Oh, except yesterday, I convinced Fuhrer Grumman to legalize prostitution."

Furey choked on nothing, Breda spewed his coffee, making it an admirable distance, and Fallman pounded him on the back, looking slightly worried. Riza just stared blankly.

"What?" She seemed to be the only one capable of speech.

I shrugged,

"Well, as it is the 'oldest profession', it's been around for a while, and it isn't going anywhere, laws or no laws. The girls, or guys, no discrimination here, have to earn a license for it, simply by having a clean bill of health. It's now a taxable profession. Government gets it's money from it and no longer wastes resources catching and jailing people. The girls, or guys, no longer have to look over their shoulders for cops, and can have legitimate means of business. They make more money, government gets its fair cut, no one fears jail or disease, it's a win win."

Mustang stared at me blandly, and I stared right back. Finally he sighed,

"Did she put you up to this?"  
He was pointing at the fruit basket, so I couldn't let that one go.

I deadpanned,

"No, the apples have told me nothing."

While Jean snickered I rolled my eyes and continued,

"I based it off the laws in the State of Nevada, near where I'm from. There are a few differences between how it's worded, and how it works, but that's for the better. This place is a country ruled by one body of federal government, whereas the US had Federal Laws as well as laws for each particular state. So, in conclusion, no, she didn't put me up to anything."  
I glanced back down at the card,

"But I did earn a considerable tab, it would seem."

Jean snorted,

"Can I take that off your hands? It's not like you drink anyway."  
I stuck my tongue out at him before sifting through my paperwork.

"No, you can not. And besides, her bar has a rather nice selection of tea and coffee."

I listened with half an ear as Breda tried to convince Fallman that he needed to see a stripclub before he died, and figured Riza was shut up in the office with Roy at the moment. No way in hell would Breda dare if she was in the room. I found the papers for my diplomatic trip to Xing, excited to see the place. It had never been showed in the parts of the anime and Manga I had seen. It would all be brand new. I flipped through the papers, clipping together all of the ones I would need and standing. I didn't bother saying where I was headed, Jean waved as I left, not looking up from where he was painstakingly building a house of cards. Honestly, that structure wouldn't last another ten seconds at most.

I slipped through the halls, pushing my way through into the foreign relations department. I paused outside the door to the head of the departments office. His secretary was speaking in low tones with another soldier from a different department. Curiosity got the better of me and I slunk closer, hidden behind a row of potted plants.

"-really a good idea? I mean sending a foreigner? I heard this morning that he had sent the paperwork to her."

"Seriously? I thought that was a joke. I mean, I can see letting her teach Drachman, but to actually _go_ to another country to represent us? How do we know she isn't really pushing the agenda for her own country?"

"We don't! I mean, I heard from Terry the other day that Jemma heard that she just had to sleep with General Brighton to get her way. How can-"

I stepped back, storming from that section of the building, mind racing. Is that _really_ what those lower than command were thinking? Honestly the concern was sound, and the suspicions would hold if they were brought through official channels. I was suddenly very glad that I hadn't had my sonic with me when I was listening in. I opened the door to the office perhaps a bit more violently than necessary, letting it swing shut behind me. I sat heavily at my desk, taking the clip out of the papers and tossing them in the garbage, chasing it with a flurry of sparks that lead to all of it going up in flames. I let out a huff of air, trying to calm myself. I cut the transmutation, forcing the fire to disappear abruptly. I pulled some paper and a pen towards me, drafting the appropriate request and ignoring how Fallman, Breda, and Fuery were edging away from me. Jean, however, stood and walked over to the trashcan, peering in.

"What did that paperwork ever do to you?"

"It fucking deserved it."

It probably hadn't, but paperwork as a rule was evil, so then again…

Jean was still hovering so I shooed him off without looking.

"Go on, back to work. I've gotten my violence out for the moment. It's all good."  
I turned the request in while I was on my lunch break, sending someone other than me as the representative. Leaving Amestris probably wasn't in my best interest at the moment.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	5. Chapter 5

I used a chunk of my illegally gotten money to buy out a small newspaper, using experience from another dimension and a journalism class to set it up for success. Then I handed it over to Gracia as a birthday gift. I gave her a rundown and let her call for help whenever she needed it, but allowed her to run it under a pseudonym. She worked wonderfully to keep the government honest, she had all the moles needed, and only her husband knew she was the one who ran it. Her spies were all the more effective because they didn't even know they were spying.

It took five months of straight fighting to get a sort of bill of rights. Gracia helped with her newspaper, getting unprecedented support from the people. The military remained in charge of the government, but facets of it were geared more towards quality of civilian life. The investigations department was split between investigating crimes against and by military, and crimes against and by civilians. There was a small anti terrorist division that I quietly set up just in case, and looked into a sort of spy division. A division similar to the CIA of my country was making a tentative appearance in Amestris, I was thinking of setting up agents in other countries, but stopped. That was paranoia. As far as I was aware the country's next door to Amestris would be too wary of both our alchemists and our budding relationships with the powerhouse nations of Xing and Drachma.

The diplomatic teams had long since returned, and I was able to analyze the states of our surrounding nations. We weren't in any danger of attack from all but Aerugo. They were a bit iffy, but Grumman's plans for prevention were sound enough that I left it alone. Wasn't my division anyway. After all that had been accomplished I felt that I had earned a day off. I submitted the forms to take a day off three days in advance, choosing my birthday for my day of relaxation. I'd automatically been cornered by a suspicious Riza, the moment the paperwork went through.

"Are you ill?"  
Normally taking a day off three days from now wouldn't suggest that someone was ill, it would only mean they were taking a day off, perhaps for a family thing or doctors appointment. She knew I wouldn't go willingly to a doctor unless I was missing something I couldn't reattach myself, and that 'family reasons' wasn't a thing for me. It might actually be something I would do during a busy time at work. Calculate the progression of illness and only set up to take off the one day it would be too severe, or become contagious.

"I'm not sick."

"You're slated for a day off on the 20th."

Jeans head popped up,

"Huh?"

Fuery and Breda were staring also, Fallman was ignoring the lot of us and continuing to nurse his coffee. I nodded,

"Yes, I have some days saved, I'm taking that one. I already cleared it with administration, and last week I checked with you, there's nothing scheduled for the team, either."  
"Just...a normal day off?"

I nodded,

"Yup. I ain't doin' shit that day. No research, paperwork, nothing. I'm getting out of bed at noon, ordering food, and catching up on _Edge of Our Security_ , there's a marathon that day."

Which was just blind luck, actually, but no one needed to know that. Riza blinked,

"You're...going to have a day in? No work?"

I frowned,

"Should I not?"  
Jean leapt out of his seat, pulling me into a crushing hug.

"Have your bum day! Let no one tell you otherwise! I'm so proud of you!"

There were anime tears everywhere and when he finally let me go I couldn't breathe, taking a second to re-inflate my lungs before turning to Riza.

"Are you sure it's okay? I mean, if I'm needed then there's always next year."

She shook her head,

"No, a day of is a great idea. If I see you anywhere near the office on that day there will be consequences."

She left the room and I gulped,

"Um, I hope she knows I live on base. In the apartments. Damn, I'll have to pay for the takeout to be brought to me, better not risk it."

The change's for the laws concerning immigrants were still waiting to be considered. We'd been making hella good time with everything else so far, but concerns with those were taking longer because of the past problems with Drachma and the current sort of issues with Aerugo. As it was my file was labeled 'immigrant' therefor I didn't have a birthdate down. Just a note for when I entered the country and when I entered the military. That was why no one had noticed the specifics of the day I'd singled out to stay home.

The morning of my birthday my alarm went off as per usual, but I slammed it the floor and rolled over, the sense of accomplishment from the simple movement felt like Nirvana. Jean left the house, not looking in on me. Everyone in our office knew very well that today was my 'day off'. It had been like preparing for a blizzard, or some other sort of natural disaster, the way they had stocked up on things and prepared for my absence. It was amusing the way they had their little anime freak outs, and made me feel more than a bit needed. Technically the team was one extra with me involved, especially since I was of the rank where I could have my own team. But unless Maes or Roy ordered me to go somewhere else I was staying.

I ordered the equivalent of Chinese takeout, paying the guy at the door, who didn't seem to care that I was in purple pajamas. I sat on the couch, eating, and marathoning television, desperately missing Netflix. The show I had chosen was decent at least, all television being similar in style to _I Love Lucy,_ rather than Doctor Who. I liked both, but _Doctor Who_ held a special place in my heart. I found that _Edge of Our Security_ was the Amestrian version of _The Twilight Zone._

Any and all research sat untouched on the kitchen table, as per my promise to myself, and Riza. Maes called at around two in the evening, just to check if I had managed to contain myself and stay home. Riza had probably put him up to it. I did the crossword from _The Prime Amestrian_ , Gracia's newspaper, during the commercials. According to the newspaper there was a decrease in crime, but really that's because I'd gotten half that shit legalized. Drugs were becoming a problem again. I was probably going to be called in to take care of that. Not that I minded, it'd be nice to get back to my roots in investigation for a little bit. Working with Maes again would be lovely, but he probably wasn't allowed out in the field much more. The higher your rank, the more time you spent behind a desk.

Edward called as well, opening rather bluntly.

"I heard you took a day off. Are you ill?"

"Why does everyone assume I'm ill? Perhaps I should start only working five days a week like normal people, end all these expectations."

I heard him give a dramatic shiver,

"Oh god, the Military would fall. The Bastard would just wander around his office, talking to no one and poking papers, wondering why they weren't doing themselves for once."

I snorted, choking on my cookie dough. I was eating it straight out of the tub, instead of having cake.

"He's probably doing fine without me, and would continue to do fine if I stayed away longer. He actually hasn't spoken to me much since it all ended. I'm thinking he's decided he's angry that I didn't tell him about Maes."

"Meh, I doubt it. Bastard's probably just too full of himself to notice he's been ignoring you. Too caught up in trying to snag a position for himself."

"His position is secure as it is, honestly. Grumman trusts him, which is more than can be said for half the guys who have rank. I'm called in a lot, but Grumman is under the impression I'm some kind of kid genius."

"Kid, you are a genius. And, actually not a kid anymore. Aren't you turning nineteen this year?"  
"Twenty." _Today actually._

"Seriously?"

"Yup, beat Mustang's record on youngest Lt. Colonel."

"Nice! Now you just have to get Colonel before 28, and General before 30 and you shatter all of his records!"

"I don't _want_ to shatter his records. He can _keep_ his records. I just want the friendly times back. I'm waiting for all of this excitement to die down, and thing to go back to normal."

"Normal? Your life? Psh, you'd go nuts without some kind of excitement."

"Me? What about _you_? Shouldn't you be going into adrenaline withdrawal sometime soon?"

"Shut up! I...thought about after Al was better, maybe returning to Central. Helping the Bastard work his way up the ranks. I hate to admit it, but he's the best we've got for the job. Besides, Al wants to go to Xing when he's fully recovered, see Mei, learn Alkahestry. I'd go with him, but I get the feeling he wants to do something on his own now that he's back to himself."

"The Return of the Fullmetal Alchemist, I can see the headlines now. If you want to go with Al he won't tell you no."

"I'm aware. But if he wants to go alone I won't force myself on him."

He sounded downtrodden, and that just didn't fit for Edward Elric.

"He's around sixteen now, isn't he? Baby birds gotta leave the nest eventually."

I could practically hear the eyeroll.

"We aren't birds, Steph."

"The principles the same. Besides, don't you trust Mei and Ling to take care of him while he's in their country?"

He laughed quietly,

"I'm sure they would. Ling's going to be emperor, I heard. He and Greed have managed to find balance, they said to thank you for that. Had you not stepped in when you did Greed would have been done for, and the stone lost."

We said our goodbyes and I was able to catch a few more episodes before Jean got home. He collapsed onto the couch beside me after getting a spoon, helping himself to some cookie dough.

"You really didn't go anywhere."

He sounded slightly amazed and I rolled my eyes, elbowing him.

"Of course not. I told Edward I might start having a five day work week, like normal people. He was of the opinion that the world would end."

Jean shuddered,

"I don't wanna think about it."

The next day I grudgingly got up, went on my run, showered, and went to work. When I arrived Breda jumped up from his seat, shoving a stack of papers at me.

"Your Drachman language students fucked something up, fix it."

He stormed out, clutching an empty mug. I scanned over the documents, snorting.

"That...that does not mean fish. Oh boy."

I dropped my stuff off before heading to the other department, holding a mini-lesson on false cognates before transmitting the correct message, along with an apology for the 'typo' sent the day before.

When I got back to the office everyone had arrived, and my desk was loaded. I rolled my eyes before sitting down and starting on it all. Four hours later someone's hands slammed down on my desk. I only barely restrained myself from shooting them, recognizing the energy at the last second with a quick pulse of alchemic energy. I took in a deep breath before looking up at Maes, doing my best to keep my voice down and even.

"Do you have any idea how close I was to shooting you?"  
His triumphant expression faded slightly,

"Is your mental state really that unstable?"

"Maes, never in my life has my mental state been anything similar to stable. Now, what did you need from me?"  
He hesitated, obviously wanting to follow the previous line of questioning. My expression must have convinced him otherwise because he let it drop.

"I have a theory as to why you chose yesterday specifically as when to take off."

I raised an eyebrow. This was going to be interesting.

"Oh really?"

"Opals."

I stared at him, for once completely lost.

"What?"

"Opals, you said the opal was your birthstone. A bit after you first arrived here I had you explain the concept of 'birthstone' after you mentioned it randomly. Opal, or tourmaline, is October. Yesterday must have been your birthday."

I stared at him for a second. What do you know, he got it right.

"Yeah, nicely done."

He put on a hurt look.

"And you didn't _tell us?_ "

I shrugged,

"Well, no. I guess I didn't. Just didn't seem important."

He tugged at his hair for a second, groaning.

"Steph, it's been over two years since you got here! You've spent _three_ birthdays with us! How could it not seem important?"  
"Well lets see, every birthday before I got to Amestris I had a doctor's appointment where they treated me like a lab specimen because of my memory. I was given brain scans, demeaning tests, treated like a lab rat, and then sent home with a little card that said 'Congrats on not losing it this year!'. Well, not exactly that, but it meant rather the same thing."

He made a face at me,

"Steph, you could have told _us_ , we could have had a party, with cake and everything!"

"I don't like parties. Expectations, cost, clean up, there are people present, I feel awkward accepting gifts of any kind so I avoid having to deal with it, and then there's alcohol that ends up in the drinks, I can't fall for that so I have to avoid all drinks, I can't wear the school uniform, well military in this case, so I have to choose clothing, which is frankly not my area of expertise, I have to socialize, did I mention that one already?"

Maes sighed, pushing his glasses back up,

"You can't go through life acting like an awkward teenager forever, Steph."

I tamped down the anger the best I could.

"I'm not acting the part of awkward teenager."

"Oh really?"

 _In my head I have the sum of human knowledge after more than 2000 years of it being recorded and gathered together. Sorry if my development seems_ _off_ _to you._

Saying that outloud would get me nowhere, and neither would getting angry. I don't get angry with people, it's a rule. I don't lose control, I don't yell. Usually I can detach myself, but Maes spouting the same parental things Liz did when she was at her most protective hit the 'annoy' button in my brain. It was after five. Legally I could go home. Retreat is the best option. I stood, my chair scraping on the floor as it went back. I grabbed my bag and jacket, swinging both on.

"I'm headed home. Night."

I clocked out, the little machine making undue amount of noise in the sudden silence. Because I don't walk away from arguments. I win them or I laugh it off. The next day Maes was at my desk again, arms crossed. I put my stuff away as usual, silently starting on my work. It took several minutes for him to sigh,

"Look, I'm sorry. I was rude. We just want you to be able to share things with us, like when your birthday is. I thought poor little Fuery was going to cry when he realized he'd missed it so many times."

Guilt then. I was wondering which road he was gunna take. I rolled my eyes,

"Then he can say Happy Birthday and I'll be over the moon."

His face crumpled a bit and I rolled my eyes,

"It's an expression Maes."

He shrugged it off,

"Either way, at lunch there will be cake in the breakroom. If you don't eat it then Gracia will cry, then Elicia will cry, then I'll cry-"

"I get it, I get it, I'll eat some cake, jeez. Just let me do my job."

There was indeed chocolate cake in the breakroom, and I made eye contact while taking a bite, raising an eyebrow at Maes. He gave me a thumbs up and that was that. Relatively painless. Better than I had expected. A surprise party would have ended with a few accidental homicides. And then a few more on purpose.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Omake

Gracia walked through Central headquarters, beatific smile on her face, holding a cake in one arm, and her child hanging off the other. I could only stare as she was let through all security checkpoints with barely a glance, the child swiping papers from desks and holding them up for evaluation. On the bottom of the pile was a piece of paper covered in crayon scribbles, giving the illusion that Elicia was showing her mother the latest masterpiece she'd concocted on the living room floor. The papers were returned back to the desks, and those paying attention closely only saw a rather indulgent mother correcting a grabby toddler. Seeing as I was the only one in the know I could appreciate that her newspaper would be running the story about the possibility of cheating Drachma out of an agricultural trade agreement. Public opinion would take a dive unless that was corrected. Times like these, when I saw her genius, I could only wonder if it was truly a good idea, giving her such power. Then she shot that smile at me and issued an invitation for dinner, all doubts of mine were tossed away. This was Hughes wife, if I couldn't trust her then I might as well make for that Hermit cave that's been my plan B all along.

 **Minor heads up, those who read the original chapter six: that story line is now extinct, I hope you enjoy the new one.**

~TimeLordOfPie


	7. Chapter 7

My latest personal project lead to me lounging in a jail cell. I was in civvies, going by the name 'Angel' once again. I was caught in the vicinity of something or another that I'm told was illegal. It was complete bullshit but I hadn't stopped when I hear the sirens and calls to 'get down'. It didn't register in my brain that they would be talking to me, especially not in that tone of voice. I had forgotten that I was in skinny jeans, a purple shirt, and my tan coat. No military ID on me anywhere. I'd wanted to fly under the radar so I could pick up info about the latest drug kingpin who thought he could fuck with my city, but not so undercover that even my own subordinates didn't recognise me. I had let the Madame have one of her girls scrounge up some makeup for me, so I had dark eyeshadow and eyeliner on that had smudged sometime during the shuffle from the streets to the jail. I now looked like some sort of racoon, not to mention the nasty bruises forming on my jaw and ribs from the rough idiots who'd brought me in. It was a bit hard to breathe actually. My hair wasn't doing much better, I looked well and truly ruffled. I'd used alchemy to dye it a deep black for the night as well, like Edward had done in the end of the first series of Fullmetal Alchemist, the weird one that hadn't matched the manga. I had yet to be given my one phone call, though my mug shot was already in circulation. I'd given them the name Angel Morgan, technically both were names I used that belonged to me, it just wasn't on record that Morgan was my middle name. I didn't look like myself in the mugshot, more punk rocker than anything else, and the name wasn't associated with me in any way. I was in different boots, these added very little to my height, unlike the combat boots I usually wore. I was well and truly, someone else. Which was bad if I wanted to throw my name around and get out of here.

Oh, I could have escaped, it would have been stupidly easy, circles on my gloves or not. I could have blasted my way out and left a trail of destruction, or simply slipped away into the night. But 'Angel' didn't know alchemy, 'Angel' didn't want to cause trouble. So I would have to stay the night if I couldn't get my one phone call in to the Madame. She had a fund to get her girls out, and I was assured months ago that she would spring me if need be. She was probably joking, but I planned on calling her in anyway. I didn't have nearly enough on me at the moment to pay for bail, and so I was forced to wait. And duck my head whenever someone I worked with more often came by. I was in the main lockup and there was a surprising amount of traffic going through. The people I was supposedly involved with must be up to something big. I'd already missed work. The first time in my life I'd ever just, _not_ shown up. Perhaps I could convince them that I'd been somewhere else on assignment, or with a different department for the day. I better not have been swept up in a 'drugs bust'. I'm still unsure if Roy ever suspected if I had something to do with the drug business back before Promised Day, so that wouldn't look good for my defense. I'd seen Maes going through there more than once and he didn't so much as glance at me. It wouldn't be in the best interests of my persona to be seen speaking with military personnel and then being released. They'd either put together who I was or label me a narc, neither of which would be good.

I kept up this attitude even when dawn came once again. The twilight. And another dawn. You'd think they'd have given me my phone call. I resolved to improve this shit the moment I was out of here and back in uniform. As the sun rose on my third day with no phone call I had long since resigned myself to catching Maes the next time he went by. But only Maes. Again, I couldn't be sure if anyone else doubted me because of my unhealthy enthusiasm for drug related cases. Which is why when I felt an extremely familiar energy through the pulse I slumped over as if asleep, and let my hair fall over my face. The energy came closer and I had to mute my connection to the pulse, I always seemed more hyper aware of him than I was of others. His deep voice was asking questions about the arrests when he drew level with my cell. His footsteps and voice stopped abruptly and my heart seized, wondering if I was recognized.

He asked the guard in an even tone of voice,

"Who's in this cell?"

There was a rustling of papers and the guard huffed,

"A new one, caught near the shit happening on Duff street. Insisted she didn't have any idea what was going on but it was Clemons' people who bagged her so we couldn't just turn her loose. You know how he is. Here, found it, says her name's Angel Morgan."

Mother of shitfuck, it's a good thing I hadn't tried to reveal my identity if these guys were Clemons. That asshole was out get anyone who wasn't born in Amestris, he'd use any reason whatsoever, and this would be a damn good one, my word against that of his people. I'd be out of the country before I could so much as sneeze.

There was a few seconds of silence and he spoke again, voice cold and somewhat frightening.

"Open it."

The man didn't question him, not even when Roy told him to leave. He just left the key and vanished. I was still feigning sleep, wondering what the hell was going on. He took a few steps into the cell, stopping only a few feet in front of me.

"I know you're awake, so you can drop the act."

I sighed, sitting up straighter, hair still in front of my face. Dread was creeping slowly up my spine. I'd never heard him sound so furious, and especially never heard anything of the sort directed at me. He continued, his voice low and dangerous.

"I'm going to ask you one time, _Angel_. Where. Did you find. That. Coat."

I stared at my knees in confusion for a few seconds before I managed to put it together. I hadn't shown up for work. For, like, three days. I'd failed to so much as call in. I'd told Jean I would be doing some undercover stuff _sometime_ in the future, so they probably assumed I was off doing that, and now Roy see's a coat I'd gotten in another dimension, the only one with a cut quite like it, on a girl in a cell with the first name of a hooker. Yeah, didn't look good. I looked up at him, grinning nervously, wild 'Bellatrix Lestrange' style hair covering most of my face still.

"Eh, hey there. Funny meeting you here."

His eyes widened and he spluttered,

"Stephanie! What the hell?!"

His surprise disappeared to make way for anger, though much more muted than before.

"Why are you still in here? Why didn't you-Jeez, do you have _any_ idea how worried we were?"

I shrugged,

"Well, I had an idea of course."

He rolled his eyes and I continued, not letting him interrupt.

"And I _would_ have been long gone, but this is _Clemons_ show."

Well, I hadn't known that before, but he didn't need to be told as much. I continued.

"You know how much he hates me. I was planning on just phoning the Madame and getting bail as 'Angel', who's known to be one of hers around here, but I still haven't gotten my damn phone call. When I finish with my current project I'm fixing this shit."  
He groaned, rubbing his face with both hands,

"How do you get yourself into this crap? What were you doing there anyway, I heard there was some seriously fucked up cult shit going on, there was a virgin sacrificed or something."

"Oh, is Jean okay?"

The joke was so unexpected he actually laughed, a real laugh. I saved that for the living room. My mind palace can have gifs on the wall, aren't I lucky? Harry Potter style photograph in place I waited for him to recover. He rolled his eyes at me, still fighting a smile.

"Jean is fine, the woman sacrificed was actually not 'properly' sacrificed, I'm told. They weren't able to completely drain her blood before the military arrived."

I scowled,

"What the hell were they even trying to accomplish? Sacrificing virgins….it only kills demons within a one mile radius. Why would they want to kill demons if they're in a cult?"

Roy just gave me a strange look for a few seconds before deciding to ignore my nonsense.

"Well, I could alert the Madame that you're here and she could show up to bail you out. She's good with her stories, probably just say that she noticed when you didn't check in."

I nodded,

"Thanks. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any soda on you, would ya?"

He snorted,

"Of course not. You'll just have to wait until you get."

"What about water? They've been ignoring the lower profile prisoners like myself."

He frowned, glancing around the cell, as if seeing it for the first time. No furniture, not even a bucket. There were two kind guards that would walk you to a restroom, one at morning and one at night. But neither had the resources to slip the lot of us food and water. Clemons was determined to slash the budget for this place, in any way possible. This mean that 'temporary' prisoners weren't treated correctly. Since I had no identification and different features from other Amestrians I was treated worse. Looks like I would constantly be treated as a second class citizen, if I was ever treated like a I was actually a citizen in the first place.

He was still staring at the cell around us so I snapped my fingers a few times to get his attention,

"Focus, buddy, the state of my cell isn't the point here. Didn't you have somewhere to be earlier? I'd hate to keep you from the magnificent Clemons."

Roy turned his eyes back to me, expression still unhappy.

"Stephane, why have you kept your hair in your face? Never once have I seen you willingly keep your hair in your eyes. Is something wrong?"  
Well, a bit.

"A bit, the Madame had someone do up my make up before I left and now I look like a demented raccoon."

"Well I could see _that_ already."

I put my hand to my heart,

"Ouch, way to make a girl feel good about herself, Casanova."

"Who?"

I facepalmed, not caring if it made my make-up disaster worse. This was a mistake, because it brushed my hair back when I looked up. Roy was kneeling in front of me in a heartbeat, frown back in full force. He gently brushed a gloved hand over the now dark and ugly bruise,

"Steph….what….? No. Who?"

I avoided his eyes,

"Sergeant Bernard Hill. They assumed I was a civilian foreigner who had something to do with the cult shit that was happening a few blocks away from where I was digging for information with my network."

His other hand brushed the hair away from the other side of my face, turning my head gently in search of more bruises. My heart was hammering from the close contact and I mentally cursed, this was going to set back my 'get the hell over it' plan back by several months.

When he spoke I felt his breath ghost gently across my cheek and just knew I was probably turning red.

"Where else are you injured?"

My eyes darted to his and away again quickly,

"Ribs."

He observed me for a few more seconds before standing swiftly and making his way to the cell door.

"I'll have you out of here shortly."

He pulled the door closed after him, and I snuck a glance as he disappeared from view. On the warpath. I almost felt sorry for Bernard Hill.

 **Tentatively off hiatus for this story.**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	8. Chapter 8

Twenty minutes after Roy left my cell Madame Christmas herself was there, full of rage. She was furious that one of 'her girls' had been taken in because of semi-close proximity to a crime. The people in charge were quailing under her wrath already, right up until she actually got to my cell and saw the state I was in. I had assumed that the first bit had been an act, but the wrath in her eyes as she rounded on those men made me glad she was on my side. She put the fear of god into them, proved I wasn't doing anything illegal with some fancy paperwork I'd never seen in my life, and then swept me away, her entourage of equally furious girls absorbing me into the fold before we'd even made it out the door. I tried not to think about the fact that I was technically a registered hooker, high class, but still a hooker. I pushed it out of my mind, resolving to worry about it later, waiting until we'd gotten into the car before asking my questions.

"Did Roy call you?"

"Indeed he did Angel, said you were in a spot of trouble here and demanded a rush order extraction. I had to wait a few so there wouldn't be as much suspicion on him, but I'm starting to think I shouldn't have bothered with the waiting bit. You okay there? Looks like you're having issues."

Indeed I was. Moving had been difficult when I was in the cell, so I had avoided it. Now that I was required to move the pain in my side was pushing daggers into my lungs. I glanced around at the girls with us, verifying that they were the ones who knew me before pressing a hand to my side and letting blue sparks dance along the skin. Alchemy is Understanding, deconstruction, and reconstruction, Scar stopped at deconstruction, and occasionally I stopped after the 'understanding' bit. These was one of those times. I wasn't really sure how to go about fixing it. On someone else it would have been doable, but I couldn't see it without a strategically placed mirror (or four), and even then everything would be all backwards and tricky.

"Internal damage, I can't fix it up myself here. If you could get me close to my apartment I can sneak through security and rig up something to-"

She snorted,

"I don't think so, Angel. One of my girls, injured by police brutality? We're going to a hospital, and we're pressing charges."

I frowned at her,

"I can't do that, Madame, I'll be figured out in seconds and my cover blown."

"No one recognised you in that cell, not even-"  
"I know, but that was without a physical examination, I have some things on file that are kind of unique."  
"Then I'll pull strings. We have a few...discreet doctors on our payroll still from when before your laws came into being."

We argued, she won. 'Angel Morgan' was taken in to the hospital, where one Doctor Furrows saw to her almost immediately. The Madame was right there with me, already explaining to the man exactly why I couldn't be found out. He was amiable enough, and assured me that doctor/patient confidentiality would protect my actual identity should identifying marks show who I was. I didn't realise that the Madame didn't know my story until she saw the scars on my arms. She didn't notice the ones on my fingers, instead seeing only the techno-style marks that went from wrist to shoulder, and over slightly, inching towards my collar bone. I just smiled at her nervously,

"And this is why I always told you I'd make a terrible call girl."

She scowled at the marks, fingers lightly tracing the air above one before pulling back.

"Who did this?"  
I shrugged, flinching back when the doctor pressed too hard against my side.

"The guy with the scalpel, I never learned his name, but I think Roy got him thrown in prison for a good long while. I...well, I never asked about him. As for the man who arranged for me to be tortured...I took care of him during the coup."

She looked me in the eye for a few seconds before jerking her head in a nod.

"Good."

I personally don't think so, but whatever. The doctor was not happy with the state of me, and filled out the reports. There would be no trial, but a formal complaint would be lodged and put on record, with his statement as evidence. The internal damage was mostly bruising, I hadn't been able to scan properly so it made sense that it wasn't as bad as I had assumed. Madame still wasn't happy with it, and escorted me home herself, the moment night fell. I made sure no one noticed us, and she handed me off to a confused looking Jean, handing him the medication the doctor had prescribed me.

"Make sure she takes it, and keep an eye on her."  
The door shut and I was left alone with Jean, who was rapidly reading what was on the bottle of pills.

"What the hell did you get up to?!"

I shrugged,

"I actually meant to not miss a single day of work but Clemons' people shoved me in a cell, non too gently I might add."

Jean had to sit down, staring first at the pills, then at the bruise on my face.

"Who knows?"

"Only the Madame and Roy. Technically it wasn't 'me' who was thrown in the cell, it was my alias. So I should really get cracking on the alchemy to get rid of the visual stuff. But first…."

I walked over to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of soda and walking into the bathroom, Jean choked,

"Are you taking the soda with you in the shower?"

"Why the hell do you think there's a little bitty table beside the bathtub, huh? It ain't for candles and flowers."  
He threw his hands up, utterly done.

"I'm starting food, you want any?"  
"Yeah, I was told to eat something with those things."  
After my shower I pulled on the spare clothes I kept under the sink for times like these when I wouldn't want to search my room for something to wear before falling into warm water and suds. All I had in there was a black short sleeved shirt and sweat pants. I tossed my other clothes in the laundry hamper, and my soda bottle into the trash can before scooping up my coat so I could hang it properly by the door. My mostly damp and still black hair was hanging free, getting in my face. I resolved to buy a headband or something, keeping it up in a ponytail all the time probably wasn't good for it. I exited the bathroom, freezing when I noticed Jean wasn't the only one there. Jean was wearing the apron I'd gotten for him that said 'kiss the cook' and had a variety of utensils strewn along the kitchen counter. But at the kitchen table sat one Roy Mustang. Out of uniform, and looking more relaxed than I'd ever seen him. He was currently laughing at Jean, most likely because the apron was pink, and his face wasn't far in matching.

"Shut up, Roy, Steph got it for me!"

"Yes I did, doesn't he look lovely in pink?"  
Their heads jerked around to me and I suddenly wished I'd had a uniform in the bathroom to change into. I always felt so much more confident when I could be 'Lt. Colonel Arcaro' or even 'Angel', but being 'Stephanie' was almost always more nerve wracking. Jean stuck his tongue out before pointing at me with his wooden spoon.

"You have some explaining to do Missy."

I rolled my eyes at him as I walked to the coat rack by the door, placing mine on the hook next to Roys. I don't think he'd ever been to my place before, and it was strange to see him here.

"Oh please, what I do in my personal time shouldn't matter."

Jean spluttered,

"Personal time? For one thing you missed three days of work, and for another, I think if you want to play hooker in a bad part of town then someone should know about it, just in case!"  
I scowled, walking past him to grab a soda from the fridge and handed one to Roy, who took it hesitantly for some reason.

"Okay, not my fault. I was in jail, which was not my fault either. And another thing, I'm not actually a hooker, you know. It's an alias, I already told you this. An officer doesn't get many answers when they ask questions, and a white-collar citizen wouldn't either if they managed to make it that far without getting shanked. I blend in, get what I want, and get out, but Clemons is such an asswagon that I was snapped up for seeming a bit different."  
Jean made a slight understanding noise before suddenly whipping his head around to look at me,

"Wait, you've done this _before_?!"

"Of course, a smuggling ring doesn't appear out of nowhere, ya know. There was legwork involved."

He sank into a chair, ignoring whatever he had been cooking and putting his head in his hands,

"Ugh, don't use that word when we're talking about hookers."  
"Involved?"

My faux innocent expression fooled approximately no one so I huffed.

"Well, I was never actually a hooker, and I never plan to be one, so I'll use the word 'legwork' all I want."  
Roy had been watching the conversation between the two of us like it was a tennis match, and finally inserted his way into it.

"Madame Christmas says you work with her."  
"Yes, _with_ her, you pointed her out to me for the smuggling thing, and business flourished once we combined her established contacts with my….erm, expertise is the word I guess."  
Jean waved his hands in the air,

"Helloooo, not the point here! The point is that you've been missing for three days because of whatever the hell you've been working on, and I have a feeling that it has something to do with what Mae's slipped onto your desk after the cake the other day.

Roy looked over at me sharply, ignoring the bottle he'd been rolling in his hands.

"What? When did he start borrowing you again?"

I snickered,

"He never _stopped_ , bossman."

"'Bossman'?"

I pushed back the embarrassed flush trying to force its way onto my face, I'd called him 'boss' once upon a time as an NCIS reference that only I understood. Perhaps I could bring that back if he was starting to question it again.

"Not the point here. I've been getting wind of this guy for a _long_ time, and if he's starting to come up on the even the _military's_ radar then his operation is entirely too large to be allowed. "

Roy frowned, setting the soda down completely and folding his hands in front of his face.

"What do you mean _military's_ radar?"  
"...no offense _boss_ but most teams wouldn't usually know illegal drugs if they came to life and kicked them in the face."

I absentmindedly rested my head on my hand and belatedly realising I had thrown my gloves in with the the other dirty clothes and had neglected to find clean ones. Well, not like I should care around these guys, my two most trusted people. I just needed Maes, Edward, and Riza and I'd have my entire inner circle. Wow, inner circle...Voldemort much? I cast my mind back to the situation at hand,

"I'm pretty sure it's one of Vinson's men who got off easy for being a narc. I had it narrowed down to twelve possible individuals, all I really know is that it's an ex-con. There are reports of prison tats of some sort, located on the arms, I could never get a solid description of them out of anyone."  
Jean only rolled his eyes,

"Of course you would already have it narrowed down while the guys whose _job_ it is to figure it out are busy trying to figure out which end of the pen is supposed to discharge ink."

I squirmed a bit, avoiding eye contact.

"Well, it's not exactly an _easy_ case, in their defense. All of the witnesses they collect wind up useless, dead men tell no tales and all that."

I fiddled with the soda bottle in the ensuing silence for a few seconds before shrugging,

"Usually I help Maes out whenever his department hits a rough patch, but honestly this time it's personal. They're killing off my _network_ now, people I employ for my smuggling ring, my _employees_ are biting the dust and I won't stand for that."  
"Your people are being killed?"  
I couldn't place the tone of Roy's voice and I refused to look his way.

"They are. For doing jobs that _I_ gave them. It's my fault that they're dropping like flies. I'm going to find this guy relatively soon, I'll have to. One of the Madame's girls was targeted. I just...I don't _know_. There's a web of information and for once, I just can't connect the dots! It's so frustrating…"

Jean giggled a bit before standing up and going back to his cooking.

"Welcome to the level of us mortals then. That's how we feel, _all the time._ "

I shuddered dramatically,

"How do you cope? But seriously, all of this information floating around in my head and _none_ of it applies."  
"Mah, you'll get it in the end. You always do. Now dig in, I've been dying to try this recipie on someone."  
Roy and I both froze, spoons halfway to our mouths. Roy set his down, examining the food suspiciously,

"I...I'm not fond of how you phrased that, if we're being honest."  
"I second that."  
In the end Jean tried it first and didn't say a word before ordering takeout and going to sulk outside and smoke until the delivery boy got here. Roy and I traded a high five the moment he was out the door. I grinned up at him,

"Good call."

He shuddered,

"Jean cooking? I don't know why I didn't notice sooner that something was wrong here."

I rolled my eyes,

"He cooks all the time, I think he feels the need to pay the way somehow while he stays here."  
"You let him cook? And you're still alive?"  
I huffed, gathering up the soup and putting it in the fridge.

"I think I'm going to analyze this stuff later, judging by Jean's expression it shouldn't be too difficult to weaponize."  
Roy laughed at that and I mentally celebrated. Two laughs in one day, a far cry from avoiding me for months on end.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	9. Chapter 9

I was given two more days to get over my 'illness' and get my ass back to the office. That meant I needed to work fast to prove that Blake Clemons was bribing officials and dealing drugs under the table. I'd put it together sometime during the night, the general was one of the few who had been suspected of supporting Father only to be found innocent and promoted. I never had been confident about that verdict, and now I needed to know for sure. His people, I needed to know how they knew about the cult...and why _he_ of all people would _care_.

I'd known the name 'Blake' was linked with drugs because of my own underground business, but I couldn't admit that. So I needed hard evidence that didn't link me to the underworld. So I dressed in dark cargo pants, long sleeved shirt, boots, and a black cloth mask that hid my features and my still black hair. On the dark shirt I had painted a transmutation circle to help me blend with shadows, an improved version of the one I'd used on night that Maes had almost been killed. I played the part of cat burgler well, slipping over the wall in the middle of the night and walking past most of the guards. Some had dogs, and I had anticipated it, fudging my scent with alchemy before hand. I shimmied up a drain pipe and slid through an open window on the fourth story, heart hammering from the both the heights and the excitement. My gloves were normal gloves, no metal places and they covered my fingers as well, leaving no fingerprints or fibers as I shuffled through the rooms.

I had only been looking through a rather opulent office for a few minutes when I started to find secret drawers in filing cabinets, filled with what were bound to be interesting treasures.

 _It really shouldn't be this easy to sneak into Central Headquarters at night. Especially into the office of someone so high ranking._

My guard was up fully, my senses stretched to the limit, keeping a wary eye on the Dragon's pulse. I had planned on taking a few papers and funneling them through the legal department, maybe placing them somewhere seemingly natural where they'd be noticed quickly enough. But this needed some more looking into. I yanked open the second cabinet drawer that had been hidden behind the false wall panel, pulling out the first file I saw and flipped through it. Wagner. Craig Wagner. That name was familiar...I retreated into my mind palace, following the hunch to a library room and pulling a rather plain book off the shelf. Here he was. He was from Aerugo, pushing for citizenship here, trying to run a shipping business across the border. They'd been close apparently...Clemons would fund certain caravans, slip them over the border, and Wagner would feed him information or...materials. I scanned through them faster, flipping pages at near blinding speed. I had the cold suspicion that if this place was searched they wouldn't find them, but they were there. Drugs. The bad, life ruining kind. But what would Clemens, the man who hated foreigners with a passion, and who obviously didn't need the extra money, want with drugs?

It took me four hours to find the journal, in a locked safe at the bottom of the desk. Honestly no one would have gotten this far because of the security so I was amazed he'd even bothered with it. Then again, I'd made it through with little difficulty, but I had all kinds of tricks up my sleeves that he hadn't prepared against. You don't have contingencies in place for the invisible man unless you're beyond paranoid. This guy wasn't paranoid, he was insane.

 _To my darling Laura, you would be proud to see how our little project is coming along. Soon it will all be as you once told me...all will fit into the world you wished to have back._

Okay, this was getting creepy as hell, and the more I read the more I confused I became. The hatred was a ruse, which I'd had a suspicion about the moment his files mentioned Wagner, and the drugs were very experimental. He'd been funding all kinds of silliness in Amestris unill Bradley had no longer been useful. So that's why he hadn't been found guilty, he split before things went south and we never found proof of his past dealings with the homunculi.

This...was getting weirder. I've seen some weird shit, what with growing up with cable tv and all, but this was _confusing_. He spoke of utopia that he wished to build, and then would say how this world would fall before him, go down in ashes as the people watched on in silence. Why would he want to perfect everything, and then 'bring ruin to the imperfect world'? He _just_ said he'd create a perfect one, ergo, he should have no reason to ruin it. And how were the drugs helping anything? Was he going to use the money from narcotics to change the world for the better? I really have no right to be skeptical about that, what with how I use the funds from my own illegal enterprises, but it just didn't _fit_. Why was he so desperate to perfect this one drug? Should the usual shit be enough to make money? It was extremely frustrating that he didn't mention anything about what the drug was, or what it did. There were no formulas, no diagrams, hell, not even how it was administered. This guy either had a much more complex plan that I was realizing at the moment, or he was utterly insane. I'm not sure if I would rather him be smarter than me, or insane. The insane act unpredictably, I can't counter that. But if this guy was smarter than me then I just needed to recruit better minds than mine. For example, a certain ex-state alchemist who was growing rather weary of the country life.

There was no way I could carry all of this stuff out of here, I'd left my coat with the unending pockets at home, it had already proved once to be associated specifically with me. No, I couldn't take the evidence to the military...I needed to bring the military here. And it needed to be now. I would really rather leave it be and gather more intelligence about it all before jumping into it in a rather Gryffindor fashion, but leaving him to his own devices unhindered was potentially dangerous. I put everything back exactly the way it was, comparing it with the initial images I had in my mind palace, adding a few unnoticeable personal touches before slipping out of the room. I faced the lamp opposite the double oak doors and clapped my hands quietly before touching the lamp, reworking the inner wires. There was a spark, and then smoke, which I promptly funneled down the hall as fast as possible, being sure to lead the flames slightly near the office but not into it. I wanted the investigations people to have reason to go in there, but I didn't want any of it destroyed.

I heard the alarms kick in and the screaming start. I exited rapidly, slipping past the men that were running towards the scene. I ran as fast as I could, scaring the hell out of some homeless people who saw the puddles move but no person disturb them. I entered my apartment, locking the door behind me and slipped into my room without disturbing Jean. I changed clothes rapidly, slipping on pajamas and using alchemy to turn my burglarizing outfit back into spare sheets. I slipped into bed, planning on letting Maes figure a few things out before sticking my nose into it once again, but barely an hour later I was shaken awake by a bleary eyed Jean.

"Maes called, they need your help in investigations, sick or not."  
I scowled, but got out of bed anyway. It took a few minutes to use alchemy to disperse the blood and make my visible bruises disappear almost completely and return my hair to normal. I showered and pulled on my uniform, as well as my long black military issue over coat rather than the tan one. I didn't want to risk having someone from the jail recognise it and put it all together, it would have to be temporarily retired. I still had circles under my eyes from the total lack of sleep lately, but that would help with the excuse that I had been sick.

I reported to Mae's office only to be escorted towards Roy's office instead.

He looked at me expectantly, everyone else gathered around for the meeting already, despite the early hour. After a few moments of silence he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"You're cutting it close this time Arcaro."

I gave my best innocent look but he cut me off before I could protest that I knew nothing, thank you very much.

"Please, spare us. We know that you set the fire to bring attention to the evidence in Clemens office. Frankly it was an ingenious way to bring the evidence to light, had he not swiped it all before investigations could get there. He's on the run. I wish you had waited on this, let us help. He's probably already across the border, out of our jurisdiction and _still_ working on whatever it is that's getting your agents killed."

I winced at the last bit but pulled myself together enough to grin and slouch confidently in my seat.

"Oh, but you see, that was the plan."

Everyone stared blankly at me and Maes groaned,

"What do you mean 'that was the plan'? We can't get to him now, even if we _know_ he's up to something! Whatever it is will just continue and come back worse than ever!"

I resisted the eyeroll threatening to surface, I had a feeling that cheek would get me nowhere at the moment.

"Nooo, I've smoked out the fox, as it were. And put tracking circles on all of the evidence and important papers that disappeared, the things he would only entrust to himself or his closest co-conspirators that he can't risk destroying just yet. And they are currently still inside Central. I plan on following them, figuring out what the hell is wrong with this guy, and then tossing them in a cell to go on my merry way."

Maes blinked in surprise before facepalming.

"You wanted him to run. You wanted him to lead us to the rest of the operation."

"Bingo."

Roy groaned,

"But you don't even know what's waiting on you there! Who knows what they're even up to! We know they aren't in whatever it is for the money. For all we know it isn't even particularly _illegal,_ unlike a certain officer I could name."

"Oh shut up, that's completely different, and it's _very_ illegal, thank you, they're in it for the drugs."

Fallman gave a muttered 'I knew it' but everyone else remained silent for the rest of the explanation.

"Okay, Clemens technically doesn't even have a warrant out for him yet. What little evidence of the link to the drug trade could be argued as misplaced evidence from a previous case of his. He doesn't _need_ to flee, which sucks. He could actually show up at his office at any time and demand that investigations clear out, he still has authority. But, thing is, he's not all there."

Breda sighed explosively, pouring another mug of coffee from the rather large pot he'd brought with him.

"I have the wrong kind of drink for this discussion."

I ignored him, continuing.

"His plans were directed to his 'sweet Laura', though records show that his deceased wife was named 'Donna'."

I paused, musing.

"I love that name."

I snapped out of it, shaking my head and forcing the 'whovian door' to close for a second so I can concentrate, annoyed that it had opened on it's own like that, the flood of images had not been welcome.

"Anyway, for 'Lauren' he wanted to create a utopia of some sort, to perfect the world, as it were, and he thought that the experimental drugs that his people in Aerugo were working on would be the key. Then he went on to talk about using that same drug, to tear down a world made of chaos. So he wants both extremes at the same time, he wants to both save the world, and end it, all the while using some drug that he insists _is_ the future."

Fallman went to speak and I held up a hand,

"But here's the _best_ part, he started off working for Bradley."

Everyone tensed, eyes darkening and fingers twitching.

"He knew about the homunculi, but when the homunculi went all 'immortality', which sealed the deal for everyone else, he got pissed and distanced himself from it all. He used their war with us as a distraction so he could go about all of this mess."

Jean banged his head on the desk, voice coming out muffled.

"How is this the best part?"

I shrugged,

"Well, at first I thought this might be those guys coming back and frankly...that's kind of terrifying. Some of this stuff he's spouting sounds like...well, similar to something I saw in the gate. And if the gate is involved…"

There was silence for a few seconds before I clapped my hands together, plastering a grin on my face.

"But it isn't, which is a relief and all that. So, now that all of _that_ is settled I have people to talk to, bribes to offer, threats to carry out."

Fuery frowned at me, grabbing my sleeve as I made to stand.

"But what about us?"

I raised an eyebrow at him,

"What about you guys?"  
"Well, what do we do while you're off doing that?"

I just stared at him incredulously,

"Um, I don't know, I'm not in charge of you guys. I never have been."

His confusion turned to a mild form of hysteria that was frankly concerning. I made a mental note to get weed legalized at some point, at the very least for medical purposes. This guy needed to chill, badly.

"But what about this plot! Destroying the world and all of that!"

I caught his shoulders, pushing him down into a chair as I stood up. I gently moved the coffee cup away from him.

"Um, how about you stay away from that. Try camomile for a while, hun. And there is nothing for you guys to do yet. I already have people working to close in on him. If you guys decide to do something from the legal side then give me a call but other then that I should have it all covered. I was honestly going to leave you out of it until Bossman here confronted me about it."

I went to walk away and he caught my wrist again, still looking a bit wild.

"No, you can't leave us, every time you leave to do something important you disappear and wind up in danger, what if you don't come back this time? You cut it closer and closer each time!"  
I finally looked him fully in the eyes, frowning.

"When was the last time you slept?"  
He looked away from me,

"It doesn't matter... _you_ never need to sleep…"

He sounded petulant and I turned to Roy incredulously,

"What kind of inhuman schedule have you guys been keeping around here?"

He just shook his head, looking just as surprised as I was.

"I...just normal, I guess, though he was worried while you were gone, I thought he left late and showed up early…"

I turned back to Fuery, the youngest of the group besides me, and the one who still had the least field experience. I put my hands on my hips, pushing aside the nervous feeling I always got right before I attempted to open up a bit.

"All right, listen closely because I'll explain this exactly once. My mental state is held together with alchemy and prayer, sleep lowers defenses such as alchemy and the conscience mind no longer has the control to keep hold of the threads. I can't risk sleeping unless I have absolute control of my mental state on the first few layers at least. Without that I'd fall to pieces and where would we be then? You however, are completely whole and intact in ways that I can't even fathom. Since I was ten years old I was taught to put off sleep as long as was needed to bring my mind to a safer place, you have no such experience. It is possible for me to go days without sleep and feel no strain at all because my system has no circadian rhythm, no 24 hour cycle, as it were. It's been effectively deleted."

I gave his shocked expression a humorous smile,

"You poor mortals die after 7 days without sleep, do try to keep yourselves healthy."

Riza frowned at me,

"So when we forced you home to sleep…"

"Sometime I slept, and when it wasn't safe I would do research."

Roy blinked slowly, seemingly in shock.

"So…..you _weren't_ forgetting?"

"Oh, I was. But that was because I wasn't used to pretending to follow 24 hour patterns like normal people. My family had been used to me and my odd schedule, but I didn't tell you about my memory condition so it wouldn't make sense to tell about my other weaknesses as well. It's also why I would sometimes crash at my desk. You know, start to need sleep, realize I can have it, why the hell should I wait for it kind of thing. All worked out in the end, I suppose...anyway, Kain!"

He snapped to attention, eyes darting to all of us nervously.

"Get some sleep. And do _not_ take cues from my behavior. Ever. Okay?"  
He nodded and I punched him in the shoulder playfully,

"And I'm serious about the camomile, it'll do you good."

I waved to the rest of the room, grinning wickedly,

"Now, if you would _finally_ excuse me, I really do have threats to carry out."  
I slipped out the door, but not before I heard a scuffle and Fuery attempting to protest.

Something thunked onto a desk and I heard Jean growl,

"Just drink the damn tea, man. She'll give us those _eyes_ if we let you get away without it, and she's been taking cues from _Elicia_ , it's damn heartbreaking."  
I laughed quietly to myself as I left hearing range, heart lighter with the confession. I was losing my secrets one by one. If I wasn't careful I would soon have nothing to hide from this world anymore. Perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	10. Chapter 10

My first few stops were in the middling part of town, not quite nice, but not the slums either. It was hours before I had contacted everyone. I made a mental note to make my own version of the bat signal. I could just flip a switch and my network would head to a certain rendezvous point to await orders. Hmmm...can't use the actual bat symbol, that would confuse the hell outta my people. A transmutation circle could be picked apart if it shows up that large that regularly, and that wouldn't be good. My next thought was a series of gradually increasing curved lines signifying sound waves, but a second glance revealed that to just be wifi, which would be a riot to me no one else would get the reference, and that was depressing.

I walked along dark streets, having already made my last stop to set the trap, lost in thought as I made my way back to headquarters. No one would move in the underground tonight without being documented and reported to my higher ranking people. The Madame had been furious with me for getting into more trouble so soon after being injured but had gone along with it in the end. So I continued to muse about a personal 'bat signal', secure in the thought that the hounds were released and after my prey. I should have realized how quickly one can go from hunter to hunted.

 _I could use a dragon, that's neat. A not very subtle hat tip to the dragon's pulse...but after that ouroboros thing with the homunculi that might not be smart. Flamel? Thats alchemic...and also Edward's teachers thing...what do people associate with me anyway? I can't exactly shoot the image of a giant trenchcoat into the night sky. Or a scientifically accurate diagram of a very large brain. Perhaps a bow and arrow type thing? A hat tip to the other 'Hawkeye' that I know of, the good Captain's teammate in that other dimension...and my surname. We made high quality bows for hunting and shit. How would I depict that? There's always the sigil from that ring I gave Edward. I could have him sketch it and send it in the mail. But he'd want to know_ _ **why**_ _and I can't say I want my own bat signal. Wait, is that-_

A hand slammed over my mouth before I could realize that light in the pulse wasn't what I thought. My eyes widened, and I yanked through the pulse, activating circles on my skin like mad using my free hand. The light from the blue sparks allowed me to see a man with what looked like a stretched out sock on his head, eyeholes cut so he could see. As amusing as the sight was I couldn't laugh, I was too busy trying to both get him the hell away from me and figure out what was hiding him from the pulse. He'd barely shown up, more 'starving stray dog' than 'big hulking beef-man'. I tried to transmute sound, scare him, startle him, throw off his equilibrium, no effect. It took half a second to realize whoever it was had a sent a deaf man after me. Smart. And unexpected. I tried to force his hands off me, reaching for my sonic. My mouth was covered to prevent noise, to keep us from being noticed. And I'd only helped by placing us in a bubble void of sound waves. I let sound come back, pressing buttons on the sonic .The scan it was taking would be useless, I didn't care about solar flares at the moment, but the screech it was making was the loudest, most horrific noise in it's entire arsenal. The man didn't react at all and my suspicions were confirmed. Deaf as a post. But the other people populating this part of town weren't. I knew they wouldn't investigate, not how this place worked. But if asked they could relate it. Anyone who knew me would connect the dots.

I wasn't physically strong enough to get away. I couldn't breath with him blocking my nose and mouth with those mammoth hands of his. I had a few seconds at most. I went limp, vision spotting as I closed my eyes. I was afraid he'd hold on a few more seconds just to be sure, but he let go, throwing me over his shoulder. I contemplated breaking free, but then I wouldn't know what this was all about. He shook me roughly until my sonic slipped from my fingers. He looked at it on the ground and for a split second my heart seized, thinking he was going to step on it in some dramatic moment. But he just nodded to himself and turned away. He must have been told to make sure I didn't have that on me when we arrived wherever we were headed. I watched it disappear from sight, hoping to hell that no one with knowledge of alchemy found it. I'd hate for them to actually be intelligent enough to open the panels and accidentally get sucked into the ensuing black hole. A waste of talent, _and_ a lot of work for me to put the universe back together in the end.

I disliked how tightly he was holding me into place, knowing that would bruise later. I consoled myself with the reminder that I could escape at any moment and kick his ass. That is, until he must have sensed me twitching. Like all humans that are not the Black Widow I am incapable of keeping perfectly still. So it was both a surprise, and not a surprise, when I felt the stab of a hypodermic into neck. I fought it, panicking.

 _There were two? I couldn't feel anyone...even the first one was shrouded slightly...what the hell is….going….on?_

Third Person P.O.V

After hours of no one hearing a peep out of Stephanie it was decided that Jean was to visit the apartment and see if he could find her. Said man grumbled the entire way out of the office, but walked swiftly and with purpose the moment he was outside. It was dark and the air was humid, the rain from the day before still evident in the veritable lakes on the sidewalk that he had to maneuver around. The way to the apartment was fraught with them, and there were more people about than usual, it was strange really, the homeless didn't usually….Stephanie. Those who belonged to her network were mostly unknown to Jean, but a select and trusted few knew where to find her, and him if it were emergency enough. So it just about stopped his heart to see Tiff smoking a cigarette beside the entrance to the military apartment complex.

The woman was a recovering drug addict. She wasn't actually homeless, not anymore. Stephanie had gotten her claws into her too soon in the game for her to still be in bad shape. All of Steph's people were eventually cycled out of use because their quality of life improved. Most people saw it as a waste to train operatives and then lose them so quickly, but Steph was always considered a bit soft by some people. Jean figured those people had never met her properly. Tiff was somewhere between Jean and Stephanie when it came to age, not quite out of her twenties, but not a teenager either. Her hair had been a thin, grungy brown for as long as Jean had known her, though she was still dirty and stick thin she looked much better than the skeleton who had started out learning under the teen soldier. Not that you could tell she was recovered by looking at her, her apartment was in a nicer side of town, her job was at an up and coming law firm as an assistant to someone or another, but if she was out and about doing her old rounds, something was happening. With Steph MIA, that couldn't be anything good.

Jean casually slowed his walking, attempting to not outwardly betray his struggle not to shake the woman and ask what was going on. Parts needed to be played. So instead he pulled out a cigarette of his own, lighting it and stopping just outside the complex to smoke. He often smoked there, anyone who would be spying on them would know that Stephanie didn't allow his 'filthy habit' in the apartment. He leaned against the brick wall of one of the buildings, subtly tilting his head to let the rag covered woman know he was listening. Her voice came out deep, with an overtone of 'sandpaper' that had Jean making his usual once a month self promise to quit smoking.

"There was a disturbance near Phantom's. People say that there a sound like a struggle in one of the alleys, a sound they ignored thinking it was one of Cartino's guys. But they say that everyone went deaf."

Jean hoped against hope that it was a weird gas explosion and they just wanted Steph to come heal some of the homeless, give them their hearing. He didn't count on it too much though.

"Then the sound came rushing back to their ears with an ungodly noise that made them wish for silence and death instead."

She dug in her pocket, stepping into shadow so that she could properly hand the object to him.

"This was found in the alley. I trust you'll take care of your side of things. We're already on the hunt."  
With that she swept off down the alley, leaving his mind completely as he recognised what was in his hand. The 'screwdriver'. He didn't understand it, he never had. Apparently it's a 'screwdriver' but it 'doesn't do wood', whatever the hell _that_ means. He only knows that she does amazing things with it, scary things, things that would apparently rot the minds of lesser men should they try to understand it. Jean slipped it into his pocket, mind racing and feeling slightly ill. Clemons. It had to have been Clemons. But this was _Arcaro_ , it could be anything from a rival gang to accidentally being arrested again. If this was a false alarm and he alerted Roy then she would be furious with him. But...she wouldn't drop _this_. A glove, a strange hair tie from her home dimension, notes in some foreign/coded language...not this. With _this_ someone could tear apart the universe and put it together again, or ruin it if you didn't know jack shit about what you were doing. She wouldn't dare to leave this lying around...unless she couldn't do anything about it.

He dropped the cigarette, stepping on it swiftly to stub it out before heading up to the apartment, slamming the door behind him and grabbing the phone, not bothering to take his coat off. It rang once, twice, before Roy picked up.

"What is it?"  
He sounded pissed beyond reason, and Jean couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the last fifteen minutes for his mood to spiral so dramatically. He cleared his throat,

"Ah, General?"

There was a sigh,

"Jean, good, did you find her then?"  
"...not exactly."

"What do you _mean_ , 'not exactly', do you have her or don't you?"  
"I...there was...her...listen, okay? There was a scuffle somewhere near Phantom's, down by the Coldstone district. Apparently everyone went deaf for a few seconds before they heard the worst noise of their lives."

"So she's causing trouble there?"  
"...not exactly. Ti-one of her friends, they...found something."

There was a few seconds of silence before he spoke again.

"And what, pray tell, did they find?"  
"A, ah, certain screwdriver."  
There was a crash, most likely his chair as he stood suddenly. Static crossed the line for a few seconds and Jean heard muffled shouts from the other end of the line for several minutes before the phone was picked back up.

"I'm headed to the scene now, grab one of her shirts, blankets, socks, something to track her with. Hawkeye's getting Black Hayate."

He sounded strained and Jean swallowed before tentatively asking,

"Is...are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. But the moment we find her I'm not letting her out of my sight again."  
The line went dead rather abruptly and Jean rolled his eyes, Roy did like to hang up dramatically whenever possible. But he was right. Steph wasn't going to be allowed to go anywhere on her own if this kept up. Sure she was capable, but she was tiny. If she kept refusing to carry a gun because of whatever the hell had happened to her on the other side of the gate then she was going to start losing freedoms so long as madmen kept lusting after her brain, or using her for political reasons, or just all around pissing off all of her allies. Yeah, this is going to signal the start of a new era. The blonde man winced just thinking about it.

Roy Mustang is a patient man. Not many people realise this. It would seem, on the surface, that he is the type of person to get what he wants, when he wants it, or his world sort of...stops. This isn't the case. With games of chess and long term political machinations he can play the long game, he can out wait his opponents. But the moment it's his people in danger his patience is done. He wants them safe, and he wants them in his presence. But Stephanie. She never does keep out of trouble. She's the worst on his nerves. He tries not to think about it, when he knows that she's off doing god knows what in a godforsaken part of town, or when she messes with the very fabric of the universe at her kitchen table. Tries very hard not to think about _why_ he worries more when it's Stephanie coming in late rather than Jean or Fallman.

He definitely tries to ignore Riza's knowing look as he fidgets when waiting for Black Hayate to pick up Steph's scent in the streets while clutching the grey shirt. He pushes it to the back of his mind because 19 years age gap and a superior officer-no. He can't even think about it. Refuses to. So when Hayate get's a lead his heart definitely did _not_ take up residence in his throat, though his gloves did find their way onto his hands. Just in case, he reassured himself. He would pull out all stops for any member of his team. This is no different. He can still feel Riza's eyes on his back.

 **First Person POV**

There's nothing like waking up handcuffed to a chair in an empty room. By now I'm more annoyed than anything. I ignore the fear, pushing it down the stairs and into a disused closet, slapping a padlock on it for good measure. Black tendrils of it still escape and the hairs on my arms stand on end anyway, though I did manage to keep my breathing under control. There were no windows, no mirror that could possibly be a window, nothing but concrete walls, the wooden chair I was attached to, and the steel door in the corner. This was getting old. I stayed where I was for an hour. No one checked on me. I considered trying to pick the lock but I wasn't a contortionist by any means, so that just wasn't happening.

When the door finally swung open it was the man that had grabbed me, deaf as a post and built like a house. He _still_ had on the ridiculous sock/mask. I wasn't having issues controlling my laughter, this was a little too far into the realm of 'hella scary abduction land' for me to laugh at it.

I had planned on making some sort of move to get a bit more freedom of movement once he uncuffed me in order to move me, but the buffalo man fucking picked me up, chair and all. I sort of stared in shock for a second before trying to keep down my lunch while watching the doors pass me. I'd never been lugged around like this, and I decided I didn't like it much.

When I was finally put down I was in a more open room, concrete again, though it was spinning slightly from how he had been swinging me around.

I was in a concrete room, there was a steel table over in a corner that I couldn't see the top of, and I felt dread crawl down my spine. Not again. Not this again. The door swung shut behind us with a resounding clang and my heart dropped. Not again.

 **A/N:**

 **Literally this / / close to ending the story, I'm getting hate mail for the language and the rating on River of Opals and don't even get me started on the hate for this story in particular.**

 **Dear Readers (the rude ones at least):** **read** **the A/N's that are at the top of the chapters, in bold, and say WARNING before you freaking complain to me and report me for not putting warnings. The description for the entire story only allows** _ **so many**_ **characters, and most of the specific warnings would be spoilers for the fic if given too far ahead of time (in my opinion at least, spoilers are the worst).**

 **On the topic of 'Language', I base my 'T' ratings on the language that I could hear from the mouths of teenagers in a High School Cafeteria. Every curse word I use originally came from 13-15 year olds (that being the age group in the cafeteria during the time when I bring my cousin lunch). I research everything, even teenage behavior for this. Please don't call me on some things and say I disgust you. I sunburn easily, the flames are uncomfortable.**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	11. Chapter 11

The door slammed open behind me and I did my best to hold back a flinch, obviously not succeeding judging by the way Clemons was smirking slightly when he came into view. My back was to the door, which I already hated, and I couldn't feel a presence behind me, but that meant nothing. These people had fooled the dragons pulse once, which was supposed to be, you know, _life_ energy. I really hoped these guys weren't zombies. Even I can only take so much weird shit at one time. I was going to have to ask my peeps in Xing what the hell was going on, if I survived this that is. We could have a science nerd convention, invite all the alchemists.

My near hysteric thoughts were interrupted when Clemons spoke, drawling his words out in that sophisticated accent that the cunt wagon must practice in front of a mirror.

"Stephanie dear, how good to see you in person, the Military's exotic little flower."

No one has ever called me that. I am certain. Ever. He must have registered my disbelief because the unnaturally tight skin on his face stretched into an uncomfortable looking grin.

"You are the Military's, there is no doubt about that. Ah, but you probably refer to the flower bit. I can assure you, exotic doesn't even begin to cover it from our perspective."

He paused, as if debating something, then spoke again, smile still in place and now creepy as hell.

"How should I break this to you I wonder? Well, no time for games, I'm sure your pet General is already on the way as we speak."

He reached into his pocket and my heart went into overdrive, pulse pounding in my ears.

 _NotAgainNotAgainNotAgain-_

What he pulled out wasn't a knife, or cigarette lighter, or any other manner of object that can be used for pain. Instead it was a rectangular object, black-ish, about the size of a cell phone. My first thought was that it was a trigger, there was a bomb somewhere and he was going to pull a dramatic action movie thing where he gloated, left, and (if I was lucky) my guys arrived and pulled me out just in the nick of time so we could run him down before he got too far. That thought was discarded pretty quickly, but next came dread. It was likely to be some of whatever drug he was experimenting with at the moment. Drugs are capable of causing pain, of some toxins do it naturally, and others born from the minds of madmen are just the slightest bit worse.

But instead of marching over and injecting me with something sketch he turned the object over, pressing a button on the top. A screen lit up. 'Slide to Unlock'.

My brain stopped. For several seconds I could only stare at the plain white background, the clock saying it was later than I had thought. An iPod. Now that I could see it properly I recognised it. Same model as mine had been. I briefly entertained the possibility of it being mine, but that went out the window quickly. I'd left mine on the bed of my old home. But then again, if they have an object from that dimension...no, not mine. When I'd seen the back earlier it didn't have the scratch from when the Band Director had confiscated it. Our music tastes hadn't exactly matched up.

Either way there was an iPod. Yeah, he's not fucking keeping that.

After he was certain I realized what it was he turned it back to him and swiped, typing in a passcode rapidly, probably trying to keep me from determining what it was. An exercise in futility, 9765. He tapped on something, and then again before swiping a few times and turning the screen back to me. The pictures _weren't anime style_. It was the same as back home. 'Real' people. It looked so odd against the backdrop of these intense color and dark lines. The picture itself was a 'selfie', a rather reluctant me and another equally reluctant soul, crushed on either side of a teenage girl who was grinning and holding the phone. We were all wearing black under armour shirts, the black overall straps from the marching band bibbers showing their ugly heads at the bottom of the screen. Judging by the field in the background we were at a game, just finished marching the half time show by the looks of it. A little mental searching in the attic found the memory, Laura, she was called Laura. She had been a fan of Doctor Who, just like I was. We'd talked about it in the stands sometimes, though we hadn't actually been friends per say, just 'band friends' where we associated and got along great at band functions and then maybe waved if we saw one another elsewhere. She'd needed the picture for a her mother who was making a scrapbook of her time at High School. We'd both been Juniors at the time, her mother was a bit ahead of herself.

I was snapped out of memory lane when Clemons moved the iPod, clicking the button and locking the screen before slipping it back into his pocket.

"You, my dear, are not of this world."

I wanted to respond with sarcasm, to snap at him, or to widen my eyes and say 'Fucking _really?_ ' but I was afraid. Truly, honestly, afraid.

"What, no protests? No demands for me to release your friend?"

He had Laura then? That would explain how he got her iPod. Oh, shit, how did she _get_ here? Truth was meant to be guarding those rips while _somebody_ (thing?) patched them up, and no one else would have reason to try and slip through like I did, Laura being no different. Unless...it was my fault. I'd been keeping Truth a bit busy, if he was opening the alchemical gate then was he 'omniscient' enough to also guard the rips at the same time? Or did Laura just fall down the rabbit hole and end up in this creeps warehouse wonderland?

He continued,

"I'm so disappointed, I heard such stories of your loyalty and bravery, I guess you're all talk."

 _Stick and stones man, words won't hurt me unless I get a different dimension that has floo powder and psychopaths._

"Well, Arcaro, if you won't play then I guess I'll have to tell a story."

He sat down on the table behind him, one foot still touching the floor, the other hanging slightly.

"Now, once upon a time there was a girl named Laura. She had many friends and a lovely life ahead of her, so much potential. But she slipped through dimensions one summer when waiting for a friend at a shopping center, the day before her last year of school began. It was just a shimmer in the air, and then she was somewhere else. The color quality was different, everything she knew about herself had changed. She was lost, and confused, but when she found a young man close to taking his own life, for fear of the struggles faced in the Military and at home from an abusive past, she put aside her own troubles and told him stories. Wondrous stories of a world so unlike his own. She kept looking for a way home, with the help of the young man but when none was found she gave in. Her chosen name of Donna Noble was changed then. To Donna Clemons. You never recognised her. Strange, the stories she tells of you depict a memory better than perfect. 'Creepy' she called it. Like you were part machine right from the beginning. She recognised _you_ , right from the first meeting. You passed her in Central Headquarters, tagging along behind that disgrace of an investigator. But she had aged. Her forty something years spent in this place had not been kind to her. She wasn't used to this quality of living, you see. But the sight of you, young and strong, going about changing her new world and making more of an impact on it than she ever had, it affected her. Oh, she wouldn't admit it but I could _see_ it. So I upped the ante. I worked _you_ into my little plan. _Our_ little plan. My Laura, she was so excited for our Utopia."

Laura Mathews, the clarinet player who had debated with me about the Masters state of mind, had slipped into this dimension and married a psychopath. She fell through _after_ me, but spent forty years here. My assumptions were wrong. The dimensional peculiarity included _time_ , I should have realized that. I went from the 21st century to the 1900's in this place, and then the 1940's America in the 'Marvel' Dimension. And then it was back to around 1910 ish. I had thought about it as going from 'present' to 'beginning of anime' to 'beginning of MCU' but that wasn't strictly correct. Or well, it was, that just wasn't the whole truth.

"Nanites are the key you see."

Is he still going on?

"Laura showed it to me, there are ways to put tiny little beings, or robots, or chemicals, something of the sort, within people, in order to shut their bodies down and have them live out the perfect existence within their minds only. Utopia! But the drug needed some work, obviously, technology here isn't quite up to par with what my Laura was accustomed to. But you see, I have the perfect test subject now! If I can find something that doesn't wear off on _you_ , something that can ensnare even the most _perfect_ of minds, then it is **complete**."

My head. They can't mess with my head, _I_ don't even know what's going on there. If they mess shit up then _nothing_ is going to be able to fix it. None of the dimensions I had visited had the technology for it.

He stood to leave, obviously too important to bother with me now that his spiel was over. I absentmindedly wondered if the whole 'telling about my entire plan' thing was because I was in an 'anime'. Sweat drops and face faults were a thing, as well as some of the logic being affected by the 'type' of dimension I was in. Curiouser and Curiouser. But that was thought for later.

Clemons paused in the doorway, turning his head back to me, the gleam in his eyes downright malicious.

"Oh, and since this is already a time filled with remembrance for you I thought I'd throw in one more... _familiar_ face."

I wasn't fond of that foreshadowing, to be honest. For a split second I allowed myself to hope that Lauren was alive, unlike what Clemon's file said. I could probably reason with her. But the likelihood of her death having been faked was low. The Dragon's Pulse betrayed the approach of another person, and by the time they entered my view the familiar feeling had creeped up spine and settled in my heart, a shard of ice cold fear.

Bald, twisting green reptilian tattoos along muscled arms, that grin…

 _Roy promised. He was in prison, put away, he was supposed to be_ _ **gone**_ …

But he wasn't, he was across from me, browsing the table in front of us. That door, covered in chains, guarded by the best of memories and good feelings, started straining at the seams. My old torturer turned away from the table, holding a syringe.

"I'm sorry to have to cut this short, I really am. We could have had fun, just like old times...it's too bad your pet General is almost here. _Enjoy!_ "

My arm was tied off just above the right elbow, he tapped around for the vein expertly, I had to wonder where this experience came from. The kneejerk reaction was 'drugs', but he must have sensed the question.

"I was military, you know. Just like you. Trained in field medicine. Discharged for my... _peculiar_ tastes. Don't worry, you're in good hands."

The needle went in quickly, barely a sting to accompany it. I would have been appreciative if I hadn't been losing my shit for fear of what was in that damn syringe. The bright red color was _way_ too close to the Philosophers stone. I thrust out my sense of the Dragons Pulse, familiar dots of light were in the building, far away, too far.

I tried to even my breathing, slow the spread of whatever the hell it was, but it was an exercise in futility. Panic had set it. The needle was removed and the man bandaged the injection site. No chance of his cruelty leading to me bleeding out the taint. My breath came in quick gasps, my vision starting to spot, though I couldn't tell if it was from my panic or the drug kicking in. Nanites he had said. Nanites. Small robots, microscopic. Can they even manage that at this stage in technological development?

The door burst inwards, men following. No uniforms. Jean was in the next room over, I could feel him. When he was yelled for and appeared he was wearing a black mask, much like when he'd first shown up on my doorstep. I blinked and he was kneeling in front of me, when had I been untied? I tried to feel around for the others but the Pulse wasn't responding. The panic was muted, in the back of my brain, now more of a low buzz than anything. Jean was saying something, snapping his fingers in an attempt to get my attention. I should probably tell them what's going on. The words wouldn't form on my lips, my traitorous mouth refusing to open. I could only hope that they'd caught Clemons, that he would spill the beans. Even if he did, could they fix this?

Edward might, he's beyond intelligent.

I never got around to teaching him the finer points of science from my world. Irony at it's finest. The only one left who would truly understand the drug, and they were held hostage by it.

My vision blacked completely, the last sight being Fuery swiping off his mask, expression furious. Well, Clemons isn't going to have fun when that little guy gets a hold of him.

There was a numb feeling spreading through my limbs. I tried to move them, point to the syringe, something, but there was no control left. Just me and my mind. I retreated, as far as possible, as quickly as I could manage, hiding from the spread of the nanites. I slammed doors and windows closed, trying to turn my 'Palace' into a fortress. I had never been worried about intruders before.

Pure 'Red' bounced off the outer walls. I could only huddle in the deeper recesses of my mind, ignorant of the outside world, and pray they came up with something.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	12. Chapter 12

The 'bad' doors kept trying to open. It took all of my willpower to keep them closed, as well as the doors to the outside. Those were doors I didn't even know I had. They had never opened before, and I wasn't planning on changing that now. With my control over my 'mind palace', which had always been a focusing technique, I changed the layout. I was no longer in a palace, but a fortress. It's my mind, I do what I want. Good luck getting past Adamantium, bitch.

It was funny to think about really, how it wasn't even real, not physically, but it was holding back an actual force that was intent on infecting my mind. I still didn't even know _what_ was after me. It was a 'drug', nanites supposedly, that were to create 'utopia'. Or destroy the world. Still especially fuzzy on that bit. Add the whole 'uncertain effects' to the 'it's still in beta' and I had bullshit-disaster soup.

It was after a long time of repulsing steadily changing attacks that I was able to spot a weak point. 'I' made a break for it. Leaving the Mind Palace isn't recommended. I wasn't aware that it was possible. Anyone other than me would have succumbed by now, I have stupid strange control over my own mind. As it is I was lost when outside of my fortress. Unknown territory. I know my waking mind, the rest of it is...wild. Untamed. Uncharted. I spent my time there running from what little of the red I wasn't able to fool. Most of it was attacking an empty shell, only memory and knowledge. The important bit, _me_ , was running the fuck away.

As cliche as it sounds, I found light, and followed that shit. Not because of the religious, or spiritual meaning behind the phrase, but because light was a sense. Things like 'light' and 'sound' meant next to nothing here. When I found something from the outside world, I ran for it.

And sat straight up in bed, gasping air and choking on a feeding tube. I managed to remove all unfriendly wires/tubes, getting that uncomfortable mess out of the way quickly. I was dressed in real clothes, sort of. My friends knew I was very _not fond_ of the paper hospital shit. I was in soft black capris that felt like pajamas of some sort, and an overlarge t-shirt I recognized as one of Jeans' that I had swiped long ago. I spent a moment just to relax and be fond of them before taking my bearings, not sure how long I'd have until someone got here. The last time I woke up in a hospital I had Elicia there with me. Now I was completely alone. There were a few coats on the stand by the door, including my own, but no one was in the room. I looked around for a calendar to figure out how much time had passed, but no luck. The next thing I did was crawl to the end of the bed and grab the hospital charts. Encoded. I didn't bother cracking the code, figuring I could wait and make Roy tell me. If he wasn't absolutely pissed I'd gotten myself into deep shit. Again. Maybe, on second thought, I had better ask Jean.

I crawled back up to the pillows, noting that there was no muscle atrophy, so I probably hadn't been there long at all. So, less than two weeks, but more than a few days judging by the kinds of tubes they saw necessary to stick in me. Narrows it down a bit. I debated getting up to go get someone, but then realized I had no shoes, and they would probably kill me for removing the IV, I can't even fathom the consequences of getting out of the bed, never mind _leaving the room_. So I sat there and fiddled with the blanket, ignoring my oncoming headache, looking around the room. The chair beside the bed had a rather serious indention in it, there obviously was a long time occupant who had only recently vacated. Bummer, I must have just missed them. They had left some things on the table beside the chair, very familiar things. Beside an innocuous pad of paper was a certain screwdriver and an iPod. I snatched up the iPod, pressing the button to reveal a still black screen. It was dead then. Not unexpected. It was amazing that she had managed to keep it charged as long as she had, probably fell through with the charger on her. It wouldn't have been _that_ difficult for the guy to have someone whip up a converter of sorts so that it would work here. I could make something easily enough when I got out of this place. Whoever had left the stuff here also left their coat on the rack by the door, right beside my favorite Tenth Doctor one. The headache was steadily building and I prayed that it wasn't the nanites. I'd only _just_ woken up. I didn't have the mental fortitude to jump straight back into that stuff.

"It's coming _back_ , isn't it?"

The voice startled the hell out of me, one because there was no one alive in the room other than me according to the Dragon's Pulse, and two because that voice had the strength of many voices, layered on top of one another. I turned to face the speaker,

"Truth. Pleasure, as always."

"Don't lie to me. And don't try to change the subject. It's coming back isn't it?"  
I paused, wondering for half a moment if the fact that the white being was in my hospital room could be considered a hallucination because of the drugs, but then discounted it. I'm pretty good with illusion by now. And if it is, little would be lost with speaking to it anyway.

"Perhaps."

It scoffed, crossing its arms, grin never wavering.

"You _know_ it is."

Okay, enough here.

"What do you want? Are you just here to brag that shits wrong with me? Bit petty of you."

It uncrossed it's arms, calmly waving away my accusations.

"No, no. I'm here to make a deal."

I mimed slamming the box closed on the game show.

"No deal, go the fuck away."

"Ah, but you may want to listen here."

"I can handle this, obviously, or I wouldn't be awake now already."

"It learns. It gets _stronger_. It should be gone by now, left your system or died, but it's still present and getting even better and slipping through your defenses, even if it hasn't happened majorly yet."

One of the fuckers came down the chimney. _One_. I blocked that shit off and everything was good. But I could see its point.

It continued.

"Plus, you aren't even sure what it would do once it was in there. 'Utopia' he said. 'Death' he said. What if it was...neither?"

I snorted,

"What, you mean like nothing happens?"  
If possible it's grin widened.

"No. I mean, what if there was a third option. What if it...changed you, before you woke."

My blood ran cold at the possibility, and it continued speaking.

"The perfect sleeper agent. One who is high up the chain of command, one with connections in most of the surrounding countries and within this one. An agent with exceptional abilities and mental capacity. An agent who isn't even aware they could be an agent until the switch is flipped and suddenly they're fighting for a different side."

I couldn't breathe for a few seconds, unable to really take in the thought. But it was _possible_. Since Truth of all things was visiting unasked just to bring it up then it was probably even _likely_.

It continued once more.

"Want to talk about that deal _now_?"

I glared at it for a few seconds before giving a hesitant nod. It spread its hands wide, gesturing at the room in general.

"I can take away the nanites, remove their influence completely."

My questions fought with one another until finally,

"Why?"

"What, you don't want to know the price?"  
"I'll get to that in a minute, why are you here? You've never before appeared to someone in need. Especially someone who wasn't even really aware that they _were_ in need."

It shrugged blatantly.

"You are frustrating. You don't belong here, you're a regular at the gate, I could go on a bit but those are the main points."

I wanted to demand a real answer but I was probably already walking a thin line with this...thing.

"Alright, what's the catch?"

It clapped its hands, pulling its feet into the air to sit with its legs crossed over nothing.

"So glad you asked, you see, in order to remove the nanites, I would have remove... _you_."

It pointed to me dramatically, and I would have made a smart ass remark but I was too stuck on what it had said.

"Wait, what?"  
"You heard me. You've been in this dimension for a while now, you've changed things in ways that weren't anticipated. It's...annoying, to be frank."

...Leave Amestris? But...it wasn't right. I'd been ready and willing to leave for Edward and Al, but...this was abandoning them for my own sake!

As if it had read my thoughts, and who knows, maybe it could, it held up a finger,

"Ah, but would staying and potentially murdering them, in the short span of time you have before the nanites overload your system and kill you, be worth it?"

I wanted to scream. This wasn't a _choice_. I sneered at the creature for a second before sighing. Jean, Maes, Edward, Al, Elicia, Gracia, Falman, Breda, Furey, Riza, _Roy_ , everyone...I wouldn't see them again unless I managed another gate hop. Which was unlikely at best. My smuggling ring would work fine with Madame Christmas and Jean running it. They could legalize it as the laws changed to allow for such things. Maes could handle the investigative units, my students could handle the Drachman language now, Jean could have the apartment, Edward could take over my research seeing as he knew Drachman and I'd dropped enough hints to him in phone calls lately. At the time I'd thought it would be neat to send encoded letters or to work on projects together easily. I could slip out. And that sort of hurt. They didn't _need_ me. Technically the only one who ever did was Maes, and even that was over and done with _long_ ago.

Truth spoke again, tone wheedling.

"You've done so much for them, for others in general. Isn't it time to do something for yourself? Save your _own_ life for once?"  
If there were small figures on our shoulders telling us right from wrong then Truth would be Satan. Perhaps it is all, and it is 'us', but then it just makes more sense for Truth to be a dipshit. Life sucks and people are assholes. The semi-metaphysical representation of 'all' _should_ be a dickwagon. It all fits.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, testing the strength there before standing shakily and striding to the door.

"Ah, ah, Arcaro. No leaving the room. I won't have you dragging others into this."

I paused before continuing, stopping before I reached the door and grabbing my coat, swinging it on. I stared at the coat in front of me, searching for whose it could be. Military issue, black. This size it could be Maes, Jeans, or Roys. Any of them could be back any time soon. Could I even _handle_ a good bye? Would they ask me to stay? If they asked I would stay. Regardless of my apparently failing health. I would warn them about the nanites probable purpose and give them free reign to shoot me should they feel I was going rouge. But _that_ wouldn't exactly sit light on anyone's conscience. I mean, look at Divergent, eep. That was a mindfuck right there.

I turned back around, giving Truth a half second glare before stepping up to the table by the bed and grabbing the items there, stuffing the sonic and iPod into my pockets before searching them for a pen. I pulled the pad close to me, glaring at Truth once again before putting pen to paper.

 _I'm sorry._

 _You know that I wasn't from here. I've been called back, and was unable to turn it down. If I had a choice I would stay with you guys, surely you know that. But...it was go and be miserable, or stay and wreak unwilling destruction before a traumatising death. I don't want to go. I don't even have time to write out a goodbye for everyone so I'll try to hit the stuff that isn't included in my will._

 _Take care of one another, wear that body armor I created more often than you do now, it makes me nervous when you leave it at home, though I never got up the guts to say so before._

 _Jean, I never did cure cancer, so give Edward and Marcoh the notes I had for it-or I'll ask one last time, stop smoking, at the very least cut back a bit._

 _Maes, I set up a college fund for Elicia, don't ask where the money came from, no one can tell you. Jean knows where the information is, the bank knows what it's for, just give your name and the account number and you're good._

 _Kain, you were right, and I apologize for not listening to you before. There's some interesting tech under a false floorboard in the back right corner of my bedroom that's all yours now._

 _Roy, tell Madame Christmas that the business is hers. And know this-you're going to reach your goal, and be damn good, I just_ _know_ _it._

 _Thanks you guys, I can't even express how much. You were fantastic._

 _Stephanie J. Arcaro_

It felt a bit dramatic, but it was all I could give them. I needed to go over a few things, and make sure they knew that they were appreciated, and that I wasn't randomly ditching them and running home. They might still think that way, nothing I could do about it. I placed the entire pad of paper on the table. There was nothing there that was too sensitive, so it was okay if someone else got to it before them. If anyone tried to get at the tech under my floorboards who wasn't already keyed into the transmutation (ie my people) then they'd be fried to hell and back. I checked that I had what I could salvage from the room before taking a half step towards a triumphant looking Truth.

"Alright you bastard, send me home."

It grinned wider than ever.

"Who said anything about _home_?"  
Should have figured as much. I was nearly blown off my feet by the air displacement of the Gate appearing in front of us, and the wind from the stone swinging open didn't help any. The arms reached out and the familiar dread filled me, just as the door to the room opened. A high pitched scream filled the air as I watched the now all too familiar process. I turned my head to see a nurse staring at us in horror. I resisted the urge to wave, any chipper feelings I might have felt gone with the reminder that I was leaving, I wouldn't come back.

She ran off, most likely to fetch help, just as the doors creaked open ever more slowly. Dramatic mother fucker. I tried to stand up straight and proud in the white nothingness, but there was no pride to feel. I had lost, Truth finally won. Whoopee.

"Stephanie!"

Of course it would be him.

I turned to see Roy standing in the doorway, wearing civilian clothes for some reason. I tried to drag my lips into a smile but just couldn't manage it. His expression was a perfect mixture of shock and devastation. I swallowed, hard.

"I didn't think I'd get to see you again."

He took a half step forwards, Truth watching us in amusement.

"What…"

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the bed where the pad of paper lay.

"I wrote a note. I wasn't planning to leave without a word, but it wouldn't let me leave the room."

Roy looked to the Truth, furious now. I shrugged, dragging his attention back to me.

"He approached me with a deal. Either I leave this place, or I stay...and have the nanites take over me slowly, painfully. Until I either die from the fight or lose, and turn on you."  
I couldn't meet his eyes at that, looking instead at the ceiling and refusing to shed tears.

"I'm sorry."

It took half a second for me to be swept up in a tight hug, his face buried in my shoulder.

He didn't say anything, and I understood, I really did. There were really no good words for this situation. He settled with a strangled "Stay safe."

He moved back slowly, arms lingering around my waist for half a second before stepping further away, obviously feeling the time crunch of the shadowed arms appearing in the great maw of the doors behind us. Moving slowly, either to scare us or give us time, I wasn't sure. He went to say something else and the arms lunged forwards. I wanted so badly to flee them, to run to Roy and ignore the Truth completely. But that isn't how things work. Just wishing a happy ending into being doesn't do shit. Not even in anime. Not even for an alchemist. I blinked and was faced with a plane of pure white. I took a deep breath, gathering my nerve and shaking the emotions left over from Roy's slightly awkward (on both of our parts) last words to me.

The doors in front of me finally opened, and I walked forwards. Like hell was I going to be _dragged_ this time. Or so I thought. Apparently Truth doesn't like to lose, even on technicalities. The arms shot forwards faster than before, practically tossing me into the abyss. I landed with a hard thump, in a new world entirely.

 **A/N:**

 **Okay, so, in order to avoid spoilers this wasn't labeled as 'crossover' yet. It** **will** **be around a week after the next chapter is posted. This gives a chance for people to read and see** **where** **she ends up before the placement of the story on the website ruins that little surprise for those reading as it updates.** _ **If you don't like where she ends up**_ **then PM me,** _ **please**_ **don't leave bitchy or 'disappointed' messages. I** _ **do**_ **have chapters that I could upload as omake's to end this story so you have closure** _ **and**_ **don't have to fuck with the dimension she's going to. I'll only bother with that if enough people just can't stand the story anymore after she lands. I know not all fandoms are equal, and not all fanboys/girls are going to like the same things, ergo, an option B. Or C. rather, since there was a place to jump ship in River of Opals as well.**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	13. Chapter 13

I landed face down on the floor, one last 'fuck you' from a supposedly god like being. The very first thing I noticed about the place was that the Dragons Pulse was still present (thank God) but that it was...odd. It was different from it had been seconds before, but just barely. Not like the difference between Amestris and Marvel universe Germany, it was much more similar to Amestris. I snapped my senses outwards as I rolled my feet and away from the gate, watching it close behind me and disappear, shuddering violently as I thought about the arms it took with it. I was on high alert, still unsure about what fresh new hell it had deposited me into, stretching my feel on the Pulse outwards into the room. I was in a small shack by the looks of things, near a large body of water judging by the moisture in the air. Then my senses reached the edge of the room and I froze before stiffly turning, unable to believe what the Pulse was telling me.

Edward. Standing just inside the door looking shocked as hell, and Alphonse, still in his armor, right beside his brother. I nearly took a step towards them but alarm bells were ringing in my mind, something didn't look right here. I brought up images I had of the two when they were like this, Al in armor and Edward slightly younger. The images still didn't quite match up. Edward was _much_ younger than I had ever seen him. It took the comparison of what I had seen in the past and what I was seeing now to directly realize that the color quality was different. It was anime still, but not the _same_. Things were darker this time around, less crisp. Like the first anime, the one I had actually seen more of. The ones whose ending I'd despised. I had rage quit the second one when Maes died yet again, but the first one I had the emotional fortitude to stick around for most of it. Oh. Shit.

I resisted the urge to raise hell, rage and scream against everything and anything, but Truth especially. That wouldn't do, I had a new set of Elric brothers in front of me that wouldn't appreciate it. They didn't know me yet, and didn't that hurt like a bitch? But this was a chance to fix another lifetime for my friends and pseudo family, so I would take these lemons and make apple juice, letting the universe fucking wonder. The plan came together easily enough, they'd just seen the gate, and I knew about them, had met them, had proof in my jacket that we were friends before.

So I turned to that shocked Edward, putting on an air of tired 'what the actual fuck'.

"Edward! Thank god, do you have any idea how that thing happend?"

He looked confused as hell, and rightly so, really.

"Um, what?"

I rolled my eyes, jerking my thumb behind me to where the gate had made its dramatic exit a few seconds before.

"Truth! The Gate! I was in the hospital minding my own business, well, trying to escape really, and _you!_ You were supposed to be investigating that thing with the-" I stopped myself, seeing his confusion hit the peak.

I turned my eyes to Alphonse, realization spreading slowly, saved from earlier to be used to convince them properly.

I took a step back,

"You aren't the same Elric brothers."

I backed away as if they may be dangerous, at this point Ed stuck his hands up to show he wasn't armed, Al doing the same.

"Look, lady, we don't know what's going on here any more than you do."

He paused, glancing at his brother before looking back to me.

"You say you know us?"  
I nodded hesitantly,

"But, honestly, you look a bit different from before."  
"Different how?"

"Younger. Al had his body back, but now he's in the armor again."

I had expected to get a reaction from that, and indeed I did. Widening of eyes and gasps all around, then accusation,

"How do you know of that!?"  
I put my own hands up, taking another swift step backwards,

"You told me! After Roy was promoted to Colonel and moved to Central, you told me while I was helping you look for clues about the Philosophers stone!"

Edward looked dumbstruck, and the general feel around the armor was that he too was surprised. Edward put his hands down slowly,

"What _exactly_ did the gate say to you as you were tossed through?"  
I scrunched my nose, shrugging,

"Nothing that made sense, saying that I would pay for this place with my right to the other one."  
I glanced around the shack distastefully, finally seeing the bloody remains of whoever activated the circle on this end and stepping hastily away from them.

"I hope I didn't accidentally buy this shack, I prefer my apartment, thanks, even if Jean does leave his towels on the floor."  
Edward had gone pale by this point, facepalming and very obviously trying to think. He was an intelligent kid, he'd put together the pieces I was laying out for him, I was being obvious enough as it was. He snapped his fingers, eyes glowing,

"Parallel dimensions. That guy Fructise mentioned it, how there would be parallel planes nearly identical to this one but with certain differences, how it was possible that in at least one each person would be a prince or in a position of power or some other malarkey."

I raised an eyebrow at him,

"So you think Truth shoved me through to another plane?"  
He glanced around before shrugging,

"I don't really see how else you could be here, coming out of the gate, but not going into it first, and knowing us, knowing about Al...plus, think of what it said. Your right to that other place, it's gone now because you're here. That was your sacrifice, that place for this one. _If_ what you say is true."

I finally let myself dwell on the fact that _my_ Edward was gone, that I had this one, this mistrusting younger one who was looking at me like a science experiment. _My_ Jean, _My_ Maes, _My_ Roy...gone.

I knew I was pale now and barely holding back tears, sucking in air to keep it together. This wasn't the Edward I saw as a brother, not the one that I could afford to fall apart in front of. I fished through my coat,

"I can prove it, I have-"

I pulled out my State Alchemists watch, tossing it to him, as well as taking time to fish for my ID, tossing it over as well. Colonel Arcaro, it would say, very official, with the date issued and expired both being several years in the future. Though there was really no faking the watch, it was my best piece of evidence. Or so I thought. My hand brushed something in my pocket that wasn't there originally, right beside the iPod and Sonic Screwdriver. I tested the material before pulling it out. White glove, Red circle…'Stay Safe' indeed.

Edward was still staring at the watch, Alphonse reading the ID, so I shoved the glove back into my pocket, not wanting them to accuse me of stealing it, or something of the sort.

When they traded items and looked up after a while I already had something else to use. A picture from deep in the recesses of my coat, of me with the Hughes family. Elicia was older than they would be used to, but Maes and Gracia were easily recognisable. I took back my things, trading for the picture, putting both back in their respective pockets and watching the boys eagerly.

"Now do you believe me?"  
Edward handed the picture back, eyes wide and thoughts very obviously racing.

"Where the Truth is concerned, almost anything is possible. But why would it take you?"  
I shrugged, stuffing my hands into my pocket.

"I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings at the time, I may very well have walked into a transmutation. I was a bit preoccupied."  
The both face faulted, probably not really buying my absentmindedness. But they believed me about where I was from, which is good enough for me.

Edward opened his mouth to spout another theory but Al tapped him on the shoulder,

"Um, Ed, don't you think we should do this somewhere else?"  
All three of us glanced at the body on the floor and eased towards the door.

"Yeah, that might be best."

We all three sat on the steps to the rickety porch, Edward with his chin in his hands, and his elbows on his knees, thinking face present.

"I...really, I'm not sure how to get you back, other than the Philosophers stone."

He looked to me and I shrugged again,

"I have no idea. I mean, I know how you guys fixed everything in my... _dimension_ , but then again, this is a different _world_ , things are bound to work differently, there are going to be slight differences, maybe even some not so slight ones."

I glanced at him before staring back at the grass.

"One thing I know for sure though, the corruption in the military is still the same."  
They didn't ask me how I knew, though I could easily have explained it away with the fact that a twelve year old was in the military, or that they had made the same mistake, and if their father were there they wouldn't have, and he was only gone because of those military bastards. But they didn't question it, so I saved my arguments for later.

Edward sighed, leaning back against the post holding up the roof, most likely not a good idea what with how it wobbled.

"What are you going to do from here?"  
"I'm going to join the military _again_ , and fix all of this shit, _again._ "

He jerked his head up to look at me,

"What? Why?"  
I shook my head, smiling slightly before glancing back up at them.

"Because, even if it isn't the same, if _you guys_ aren't the same, it's still my friends, the people I care about. I'm not going to let them suffer or die, not when I might have a slight leg up in knowing what may happen to them."  
Edward shook his head, but he was smiling slightly as well.

"Idiot."

I snorted,

"The you I knew would have said exactly the same."

He grinned at me,

"Well, he's a smart guy."  
His grin faded and he looked at me seriously.

"How are you going to join the military without papers?"  
I coughed slightly, looking away.

"Well, same way I did last time I guess. I'm...not actually Amestrian. Last time I kind of showed up and got forcefully recruited because I was foreign, it's that or pay these impossibly outrageous taxes anyway. I might have to sneak _out_ of the country, forge my papers to be older, and then come back through, but it should work out about the same, especially since I'm older this time around."  
Al tilted his head,

"You're foreign? We couldn't even tell!"

I laughed, pushing back the memories threatening to surge forwards, of the same suit of armor excitedly asking where I was from.

"That's funny, the first time we met you asked me if I was foreign, mainly because of my accent."  
He hmmed,

"Perhaps with practice it got better?"

"Most likely."

Edward sighed before standing and brushing off his pants, holding out a hand to help me up. I took it and he spoke,

"We should probably get going, we need to report this to the military, sans the appearing alchemist of course."  
I grinned at him,

"Thanks."

He rolled his eyes,

"Don't thank me, it's not like they would believe me if I told them anyway."  
He hesitated before continuing.

"If you need help with the whole corruption thing feel free to contact us, alright?"

I nodded with a grin,

"Sure. Just one last thing?"

He nodded the go ahead and I glance around,

"Where the hell are we?"  
He looked over at the nearest farmhouse before shrugging and pointing off to his right.

"Southern Command is that way. If you want the nearest border then your best bet is to sneak past them, if you're capable."

I had the brief image of sneaking into the office of one of the highest ranking officers in the country and setting it on fire before I snorted,

"Yeah, I think I've got that covered."

 **Don't hate me, technically it's a crossover, I just don't have to file it as one. ~** _ **Loophooooles~**_

 **In any case, you don't have to have seen the original anime to read this, since Steph is just going to mess around with it anyway, though spoilers are possible depending on your definition and if you ever really planned on watching that 2003 version and the accompanying movie (Conqueror of Shamballa), which I referenced at least once in River of Opals.**

 **I like reviews, *hint hint*, so long as they're not rude, crude, or cruel.**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, so I may be good at stealth, but wandering around the wilderness barefoot is not good on anyone. I could very well have caught a small animal and made shoes but I didn't really want to disturb nature on my way through. I wanted there to be no evidence of my arrival whatsoever, right up until I got in the legal way. Dead bunny rabbits would certainly point to the presence of _someone_. So I wandered through, careful not to disturb much and to steer clear of towns and any people in general. When I _had_ to walk through a populated area, such as to figure out where the hell I was and where I was going, rather than the general 'that way', I hid myself like when I had snuck around before. I drew an alchemic circle on myself in sharpie and then went about my business looking like nothing more than a haze. It was like 'shielding' in Artemis Fowl, only not magic, and it took more out of me.

I lifted a map from a convenience store, feeling more than a bit guilty, but I left some coins on the counter. I found out the name of the town from the front of city hall and then oriented myself. Edward was right, I could exit Amestris that way. Still, I felt better knowing for sure where I was headed. I stuck to forested areas, trying to move quickly as well as go unnoticed. It helped when I had the strength to do a transmutation and blur my form to near invisibility, but honestly that worked best at night. I tried to travel more at night and run during the day, using the Pulse I could sense people, animals, even trees that got in my way, and I had an advantage over those using flashlights or just plain bumbling around. Eventually I managed to find the border. My clothes were in disarray, even my beloved coat wasn't at its best. I resolved to repair it the moment I was out of all of this. I was a mess, with a (mostly affected, now) foreign accent, wearing no shoes and asking for asylum. Perfect image of refugee. I slid past the border easily, laughably easily. It was nothing compared to the security within Central, but really, in this case, they _are_ trying to keep people **out** , they really don't tend to watch for people attempting to _leave_. Not into Aerugo in any case. I think no matter the dimension, Amestris and Aerugo are going to bitch at one another. Never as badly as Drachma, but still, not on good terms. I would think twice about entering from there if but for the fact that I looked nothing like the people there and my accent differs greatly. I could pass for Drachman, but that was definitely no way to get into the military, unless I went at it from the translator angle like before. Even then I was entering Amestris from entirely the wrong side, and with the wrong features as well. My Italian genes made sure my cheekbone game was hella stronger than the norm around here, as well as somewhere around the eyes. There was no putting a finger on it, but Maes had expressed that I was 'just different'. It made sense, really. I wasn't 'drawn' into anime style, therefore it didn't actually fit me as it did the people actually from here.

Either way, a bit of alchemy, some trees, the ink from a pen in my jacket, and I had 'papers' from a foreign country. The language was Italian, the format was mostly accepted, and I could explain away my knowing 'Amestrian' from the Xingese or something like that, if anyone bothered to ask. It was almost easy after that. They took one look at 'thinner than usual' me and found me a bunk and a bowl of soup. I hadn't eaten while getting here, so it really added to the whole 'refugee' image. My poor country of Tatooine was apparently captured in war and falling apart at the seams from various coups. I still semi hated myself for just spouting that as the name of my country. I had no control when I was younger. Granted, it really wasn't that long ago, but civil war makes you grow up a bit quicker than you would inted. I was given papers to proceed and well wishes from some rather nice soldiers who liked to hear all about my 'foreign culture'. I passed several tests and was observed for a while before I was allowed to move on, but apparently a lone, tiny, seemingly starving young woman was not to be turned away. It would have been sketch as hell in my original world, but what with there being no tech here to do a background check I guess all they have is gut feeling and observation.

This time I stuck to roads, walking through towns and such. I managed to trade a 'souvenir from my home country' (read, 'shit from myth that I used alchemy to whip up') for cash and buy decent boots. I bought needle and thread as a cover and then used alchemy to fix up my jacket. It was a major relief when it was back to normal. My hair had gotten longer, a bit past my shoulders, so I gave in and bought new hair bands, tying it in a high ponytail. It was still wavy as fuck, but it wasn't like I had a straighter handy. I wasn't attempting _that_ with alchemy any time soon.

Getting to Central on foot, not being able to earn the money for a train ticket, took almost a week. It was fucking annoying, but it helped me to work on getting a bit back into shape. I hadn't been running as I should have been right before I was taken through the gate. The investigation had been taking up too much of my time for me to bother with my work outs.

Entering Central I finally found the fucking place where I had to report for training. I handed over my papers and the little form/brochure combo I'd been given at the border. Last time I had been dragged there by the Fuhrer himself, so the process was a bit new to me. There were questions, and then a physical exam. For the questions I told them that I had worked for the government in my old country, before the coup tore it down. (Sort of true). No one even asked about the scars. I thought that they knew what they were, evidence of torture, and left well enough alone. Shamelessly eavesdropping told me that they thought it was some tribal road-to-adulthood bullshit. I have nothing against such customs, but they were derisive about it. I had half a mind to make up some voodoo shit to scare them, and then use discreet alchemy to actually fuck with them. But that way lead discovery. I didn't want anyone knowing about my alchemy yet. I could very well end up in the same boat as last time, at the Fuhrer's personal beck and call, unable to refuse missions that lead me straight from the frying pan and into the fire.

I was eventually accepted into training, just like before. I get the feeling that last time moved as quickly and smoothly as it had because the Fuhrer really wanted me under his thumb. All homunculi could tell I was weird, I never escaped their notice, from the moment I set foot in Amestris I was under their scrutiny. This time would be no different. But this time I didn't have Maes and Roy to protect me. This time I may very well be in actual danger before the 'danger' even starts.

Once everything started though, I kicked ass. I knew this shit, I practiced this shit. The book stuff wasn't likely to trip me up, and the weapons, _please_. I was trained like this already, and then _re_ -trained by Hawkeye herself. Ain't no way in fuck that a new recruit is scoring higher than me. Of course, I had to pretend like I was learning, rather than just going through the motions. But this time around I _really_ knew what the investigative department was looking for in a recruit, and I gave it to them spot on. I had been on the committee that watched these guys, that looked for potential. I'd seen the damn scoresheet. So I became the perfect little soldier, just for them. So help me I was going to work for Maes by the end of this year. He was not fucking dying, no matter the dimension, not while I was in it.

Once the other recruits started getting the hang of shit I stopped toning it down. Oh, I didn't win some of the fighting matches, but I'm fucking tiny and I've really been relying on Alchemy for too long. The shooting was difficult because I had a new dislike for guns ever since Edward was killed in front of me by 'super gun'. But I powered through it. The food was just as disgusting as always, and people looked down on me just as much, if not more.

Before I had been small, female, nearly incompetent in everything but the intellectual stuff, slightly foreign, and determined to improve. Now I was mostly competent, still small, still female, and slightly more foreign. They saw me as something strange because of the scars, and I wasn't allowed my gloves or long sleeved shirts. It set me apart. They identified it as part of my culture and I decided it would take too much effort to discourage it. Let them. Maybe they'd come to the conclusion that my people were badass warriors who shouldn't be fucked with. Perhaps before it was endearing that I was tiny, female, trying, and nearly failing. Now it was most likely annoying that I was tiny, female, and doing just as well if not better than them in some areas. People didn't like me. I had no one to turn to. No Maes to visit me and bring soda, nothing. My 'advisor' this time around was a rather uppity man with a crazy looking mustache who would constantly tell me that it was okay to quit when things got too much, telling me that I could always drop out and pay the reduced tax for at least trying. Asshole.

When I got out of training the asshole escorted me to my apartment, heartbreakingly, _mine,_ the same as before, and congratulated me on making it through with only the minimum amount of surprise showing. I stared around at the nearly empty apartment for several seconds after he left and then sat down at the kitchen table. I'll admit, more than a few tears fell in that moment. I was back at the beginning in a way. They didn't know me as I knew them, they hadn't even met me the same ways. Nothing would be as it was before. Perhaps it was a good thing, but I couldn't bring myself to see it. Here was my apartment, my _home_ , come back to me, but it didn't matter anymore because Jeans throw pillows were gone and his coat wasn't on the hook. His brand of ice cream wouldn't be in the freezer and I'd never walk into the room to the sound of Amestrian Jeopardy.

After I had mostly gathered myself together I was able to set the same transmutations down as I had before. No bitches would be spying on me any time soon. I took my sonic to the phone, securing the landline and making sure it would at the very least be resistant to bugs. Not that I had anyone to call, or that anyone would call me. I knew I had told the Elrics to do so but the odds were that they would ignore it, or just plain not know how. It wasn't like I had left a number or anything. It had been almost a month and a half since I'd seen them, and I still had years to go until the actual anime started, well, the bulk of it. There was quite a bit of flashback stuff happening around now but nothing too plot centric. I was too late to help Nina, _again_. That hurt.

I had a weekend to myself to 'settle in' and I took my first paycheck shopping. I got food and the same brand of pillows and blankets that I had learned to adore in Amestris. I put the rest of the money away so that later I could once again start up my illegal smuggling ring. It had been damn useful before, and that was only when it was started up near the end. Imagine, now I had time to have it well in place by the time shit even _starts_ to go down. Hell, why wait for the plot? Perhaps I could head it off. Then again, I really don't have enough background knowledge on this dimension for that to work all that well. Butterfly effect and all that.

I went through the paperwork I was left with, finally coming to the end. Report to the Investigative Department at 0800 hours on Monday.

I couldn't contain the manic grin.

Perfect.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	15. Chapter 15

I was a minion. For several weeks all I did was run paperwork. It felt like bullshit because the first time around I had been on cases almost immediately. But then again, last time I got lucky and had connections right from the beginning. With someone as well liked as Maes Hughes in your corner it was difficult for people to dislike you. Well, now people tended to dislike me. I was young, in their workplace, and foreign. I was starting to think that last time people assumed I was Maes enthusiastic pet helper and that was why they left me alone. Now I was here on my own merit and apparently that was bullshit to them. I was close to revealing that I knew Drachman just to get the tiniest bit of street cred when there was a shift in everything and I was allowed to help with specific cases. Oh, I wasn't to the point where they let me out into the field or listened to my opinion, but I was working on things. Some cases were stupidly easy, and I poked and prodded people in the right direction. Others were difficult and I had to spell it out more obviously. It was after a few more of those that I was finally let out of my probationary cage.

Almost four months spent in that dimension and I was three months behind where I had been the first time around. It was infuriating to find out how much of before was riding on Maes coattails. At least this time I worked my ass off and proved myself, even if it was fucking annoying. Not that I hadn't worked damn hard before, but without support, without friends or allies, it was infinitely harder. They might have liked me more if I made an effort but I honestly couldn't with some of them, not without knowing for sure who was on which side. Trust was a hard thing to come by.

I brought coffee into the office every morning and the idiots that worked there would sniff it first, as if to make sure I hadn't poisoned it. I wanted to mention that if I poisoned them they wouldn't be able to tell until they were arguing at the gate, but that wouldn't do me any good. It was on one of the mornings that I was dangerously close to snapping and saying something when the door slammed open and I saw this dimensions Maes Hughes for the first time. I froze in shock for half a second before snapping to attention like all the other lackeys in the room. Maes consulted his papers for half a second before beaming to the entire room, hands on his hips dramatically.

"Alright, one of my team is out sick for a while so I was assigned one of you twerps!"

There was mass sweat dropping, though I refrained, mostly immune to him by now, even if this was a different Maes it was _Maes_ , through and through. He brought the paper up to look at it again, squinting in an exaggerated way before brandishing the paper about.

"Which one of you is Sergeant Arcaro?"  
The glares started once again, mostly for being passed over. I raised my hand hesitantly, surprised myself, though feeling mildly triumphant.

"That's me, sir."

He glanced over, examining me critically,

"Hmm, bit small, but you'll do for now. Come on!"

He marched out of the room and I had to hastily grab all of my things and shove them into my coat pockets as I pulled the thing on, running after him. When I caught up I walked slightly behind and to his right, following silently. I wasn't sure how to act around this Maes. I had only ever been friendly with mine. This one had never met me before in his life. For all I knew he might dislike me, much like the others. But honestly, it wasn't really in his personality to judge based on a nationality and a book's cover. His office was the same as always and when we reached it I had to resist falling into nostalgic memories, instead sitting at the desk he indicated and resisting the urge to groan when the files hit the desk in front of me. This shit again.

"Get cracking probie! I want all of these gone through and sorted before lunchtime!"

It was typical hazing, just what I had expected. Filing was a skill I had learned early on the first time around that some of my commanding officers had damn near worshiped me for at times. This time was no exception. The desk that in another reality had been mine housed a glaring man, thin and tall, slightly stringy looking, with bushy hair. I made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

It only took two days for Maes to break and start thrusting pictures of his little girl at me. It hurt honestly, to see Elicia looking so young and happy with both of her parents and knowing I would probably never be her 'Aunt Steph' again.

It didn't occur to me that Maes might see this sorrow until he point blank asked about my family one day. He was half sitting, half leaning on the edge of my desk like he usually did when he was showing his victims the pictures of his family, only while he was shuffling through them he glanced up at me over his glasses, calmly asking,

"So, Arcaro, here I am blabbering about my family, what about yours? You never talk about yourself."

Ah. I shrugged, having picked up that the atmosphere in Maes office around his people was much more relaxed than with your usual commanding officer.

"They're gone."

Well, that killed the atmosphere. He was rather gentle when he pressed.

"What happened? If you don't mind telling."  
Well, how to say this without lying to him?

"There was a war." _The second world war_. "And there was a coup." _In amestris._ "I barely survived myself." _I had to sacrifice my right to stay in that dimension to get rid of those damn nanites._ "Now they're gone."

Hughes took the information stoically before whipping out pictures of Elicia.

"Here you go! Pictures of my perfectly darling Elicia to ward away the sadness! Isn't she cute! See, in this one she's wearing mommy's hat, isn't that adorable?"  
I smiled at him,

"Yeah, it is."

Just like before he wasn't really used to anyone agreeing with him, or not getting pissed off. It threw him off at first, just like before, but once again he took it in stride. He was quite cheerful about it, taking me along on cases more because the others were 'debbie downers'. I myself wasn't sally sunshine, but I knew how to put on a brave face and suck it up. And really, it was easy, to be happy and act like it when Maes was around. I had to be careful, careful not to reveal too much, or be too friendly. But it was nice, like old times. I had often half-heartedly wished to go back to the good old days with just him and me, working on Investigations. Now I had it. Sort of not what I meant, but I could deal.

We were standing around a chalk outline one day when I was stopped in the middle of my internal monologue on 'whodunnit' when there was a hand on my shoulder. I tensed and nearly threw them through the nearest window but felt it was Maes through pulse and restrained myself, relaxing slightly before turning to him with a raised eyebrow.  
He motioned at it all, where the ME had left his equipment lying around and our CSI kits were still open.

"What do _you_ think Arcaro? Marvin here reckons that it was the homeless guy that hangs out near Bradford."

I snorted,

"Please, it was obviously the wife."  
He raised an eyebrow right back at me,

"Oh really? Do tell."

I pointed at the blood spatter first,

"Angle of impact, force used to cause such damage, and the choice of murder weapon point to someone smaller and weaker than the victim, using the advantage of surprise. The guy on Bradford is taller than you, no way did he do this unless he was lying on the couch, and even then that would make for an awkward swing. Now, no forced entry, either the killer was known to the victim or had their own key. The wife is a soon to be ex, obviously, so there's a hint of motive right there, but the locks have also not been changed in a while."

I moved around to crouch by the dead guy, carefully lifting up his left hand and extracting the hairs that had got caught in his ring, most likely when he was trying to force her away from him by grabbing her by the ponytail.

"I also don't believe that the homeless guy has long curly blonde hair that smells like peaches."

The hair went into an evidence bag that someone handed me and when I looked up Maes had that thoughtful look on his face. After a second he pointed down at me, looking around at the rest of the crew,

"You know what, I vote for that theory."

The thrill of victory lasted for the rest of the day. People had mostly started to warm up to me since I had been there longer and had more or less proven myself. But proving myself to Maes was all that really mattered to me. When his old team member recovered and returned I was transferred back, to my eternal sadness, but Maes still requested me at least every other day for help with something or another. Finally Jimson, who was my commanding officer, threw his hands up.

"Damnit Hughes, just keep her, but get those pictures out of my sight!"  
He sulked slightly but still rushed me away with something like victory in his stance. He dragged me back to his offices, showing me a virtual tower of folders and paperwork, grinning madly.

"Things have fallen behind while you were gone, better get cracking!"

I should have been pissed. But I was back on Maes team, and with plenty of time to earn trust before D-day. I heaved a quiet, slightly tentative, sigh of relief before I got started on sorting the papers, humming something innocuous from America, reveling in my success.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	16. Chapter 16

* **Warning: Someone is a dickass and makes fun of bulimia***

Just like before I would work on my research journal when we had quiet moments. I was scribbling in my personal, coded, language and putting forth alchemic theory on how to charge that damn iPod when Maes dropped something onto my desk. I barely had time to yank my journal out of the way before the files hit, scowling at the mess as the tower slid all over the place. I gave Maes a sour look that he just laughed at,

"Come on Arcaro, lighten up! It's Friday after all!"

Yeah. Friday. I never see him on weekends, or any of the other people in this office. They're the lucky few who get weekends off. I'm not actually sure which days are my days off. With Jimson they were Tuesdays and Wednesdays but now that I had moved squads I wasn't entirely certain. Seeing as it had been almost a month since I'd transferred I figured it was a bit late to ask. I hardly ever went home anyways. I had to get information, I had to get a handle on the state of things, in this country and around it.

I stuck my tongue out at Maes,

"Friday is fish day in the caf."

Maes paled in front of me, shivering dramatically.

"Oh. So it is. Well-"

He whirled around, thrusting his hand in the air and pointing to the sky in an attempt at being majestic.

"No one is allowed to eat the fish if they plan to stay in this enclosed office space for the rest of the day."

I snorted,

"Amen."  
Marvin, bushy haired dude who I was _positive_ had been a stoner earlier in life (and believe me, I'd know, my brother had that phase for a long ass time), rolled his eyes.

"Not like we have to worry about Arcaro, not like she eats anyway."

I raised an eyebrow at him before taking a very pointed sip of the soda in front of me. He groaned, running his hands through his mess of hair.

"That doesn't count!"

I scowled,

"Okay bub, I had donuts on the way here, this persecution is unnecessary."  
Maes watched us like we were a tennis match, as always, though this time his expression was curiously blank. Marvin sneered,

"Oh, a donut! Bet you were in the bathroom right afterward with a hand down your throat."

I didn't get much past the affronted look before Maes was sighing, pinching his nose between his forefinger and thumb.

"That's enough now kids, you're going to give Daddy a headache."

I sunk down in my chair a bit, going back to my journal, waiting for Marvin to go back to his stuff before mumbling,

"He started it."  
I was never this petulant, and it showed in Marvin's reaction. I stuck my tongue at out him, causing him to gape and Maes to snicker.

"Get back to work, you dorks."

I did as I was told, putting aside the notebook and going back to the mind numbing work of whatever the fuck this file thought needed to be done. I ended up having to run a few papers over to another building, waving to Maes as I stepped out. He was on the phone with his feet on the desk, a picture of Elicia in one hand and a shit eating grin on his face. I had to walk past the cafeteria and saw a fight break out over someone's sister and had to stop for half a second to see who won. Curiosity killed the alchemist and all that. Once I managed to file the paperwork and return to the office Maes was still on the phone, now practically shouting at whoever he was talking to. When he saw me entering he pointed, causing me to freeze.

"There! Stephanie! You'll agree with me, right?"  
He used my name. It was the first time this Hughes bothered to use my given name. Slightly in shock I nodded,

"Yessir."

He pumped his fist in triumph,

"Here that Roy? She agrees with me, and you know they say a woman is never wrong!"

Marvin snorted,

"You call that a woman?"  
I resisted the urge to punch him in the face, instead sitting calmly at my desk and flipping yet another file open.

"Marvin I would call you a cunt but you have neither the depth nor the warmth necessary."  
Someone choked and I refused to look up, keeping my face as straight as possible. This dimension didn't know me as someone who cursed like a sailor and had much of a sense of humor. Perhaps it was about time to fix that, I was a bit more comfortable here, had an established life so far…

I put my signature on something with a flourish before glancing up at Marvin, he was staring into space, mouth opening and closing as if he was trying to think of a comeback still. There was a knock at the door and he snapped out of it, just as it swung open to admit a rather large man in uniform who lumbered in and dropped a hideously large stack of files on his desk before leaving without another word. Marvin's expression was priceless. Despair coupled with 'pissed the fuck off' to get the perfect blend of 'fuck my life'. I sighed in contentment, relishing the moment before standing and walking the five steps across the office to his desk, grabbing roughly half of the files and plopping them down on my desk.

I sat down, grabbing a pen and looking balefully at the files.

"I was through with everything too." I pointed to Marvin dramatically, using my pen for emphasis.

"I'm helping you out of deep shit today but Monday _you_ get to bring the coffee!"

The person on coffee duty had a fund that they worked out of but the downside was that it took time and almost always meant that the person doing it had to get up at an obscene hour. Ever since my arrival I was the one who got coffee, every morning, even though most mornings I personally had a soda in hand instead of Maes preferred liquid of the gods. Marvin's face fell but one look at the size of the stack I had taken and the stack he had left and he was nodding enthusiastically. It was either get up early on Monday or take the files away from me and stay really fucking late today. I set to work immediately, not bothering to work quickly. I was going to be here all weekend anyway due to being mostly unsure which days were my off days, or if I even had any. Still, I was just about finished by the time everyone else was packing up and heading home, with Marvin having left almost an hour before. There was only one folder left, with around seven sheets of paper in it. All were mostly from the past week so I wouldn't have to pretend to look up the details on it. I could feel someone watching me and had to resist the urge to look up. Once I was done with the papers I stuffed them back into the folder and stretched, wincing when something popped deep in my spine. I hadn't had to pop every joint to keep it from catching in a long time. Probably because the overall increase in physical activity in my daily life kept everything running smoothly. I finally looked up, seeing that it had been Maes who was watching me. I waved to him cheerily,

"Not headed home yet, boss?"

He was usually one of the first out the door on a Friday, ready to go home and spend a wonderful weekend with his loving family. He didn't speak for a second, and when he did it wasn't an answer to my question.

"If it bothers you, I'll stop."

I blinked at him slowly.

"What?"  
He sighed before iterating.

"The pictures. If it bothers you to see them then I _do_ have enough self control to keep them to myself."

It took me a half a second to put it together. Today had been the first time in a while that he had gone all day without shoving those pictures at me or someone rather close to me. It was also the first day that I opened up and interacted with people more than glares or what was necessary for work. I sighed, putting my coat back on the rack and placing my hands on my hips.

"They don't bother me."

He looked close to protesting so I continued.

"They really, really don't. I have precious little left from home, and seeing that happiness is indeed possible and that my angsty little world isn't all that exists...it's good for me. Helps to keep me from dwelling on what I've lost because of terrible things, and rather, to focus on what good still exists."

He was still for a moment before sighing, a small smile on his face as he took his glasses off and wiped them clean.

"You, are entirely too smart for your age."

I raised an eyebrow at him,

"And what age do you even think that is?"  
"Hmmm, 17?"

Oh wonder of wonders. The second time I meet him he chose the age for the first time. I sweat dropped,

"Sir, I'm twenty."

The anime incredulity was amusing as fuck, and I snickered at him while he tried to come to terms with it. After a few minutes I rolled my eyes and pulled on my coat.

"Have a nice weekend, sir."

I was halfway out the door when I heard him say,

"You too, kid."

I resisted the urge to sweatdrop once again as I left the building. That anime bullshit stuff still threw me off. And kid? Really? He was, what, same age as Roy? Roy was twenty eight when the series starts when Edward is fifteen, making Roy 25, and Maes around the same age. He was _barely_ older than me! I stewed on that the entire way to my apartment, halfheartedly wondering if I should get takeout. I unlocked the door, hanging my coat on the rack and sighing.

"I'm home."

Silence. Like usual. It had been habit from when Jean lived there and now it was just sad. I flopped down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

"I should get a dog."

I continued to stare at the ceiling for a while longer, weighing the pros and cons of trying to take care of a dog, myself, this country, and keep Maes from dying. I sighed,

"Yeah, I'll wait a while for the dog."

 **Those of you who liked River of Opals feel free to go to Inkitt and vote for it on the Fanfiction contest ^.^**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	17. Chapter 17

It had been a long time since I'd had to chase someone through the streets of Central, and I found it equal parts exciting and annoying. Maes was speaking in my earpiece, the static starting to give me a slight headache.

"I've got reports of him turning west near Frond, is anyone in the area?"  
I touched the transmitter part of the earpiece,

"10/4, Arcaro in pursuit."

I heard him take a rapid breath to say something but didn't wait for him to protest, instead pressing one foot to the side of the alley and launching off, doing the same to the other side, thanking whoever built the buildings so fucking close together.

"Parkour!"

I'll admit I did a bit of a nerd giggle while running over rooftops and spotting the target. He was in a bloodstained uniform, fresh from killing his wife and two random passerby who saw the whole thing through the open curtains. I was still a bit skeptical as to why they didn't run away, but eh, who knows what they were thinking, perhaps one of them tripped or something and the other fell on him. Not really my job at the moment.

I slid down a drainpipe, grimacing at the slimy feel of it and started running again the moment my boots hit the ground.

"I've got visual."

And indeed I did, he was stopped right at the middle of an intersection staring at the water in a fountain, droplets of red running down his arm and tainting the calm water at the edge of the pool.

"He's stopped at Yinsen Cross."

I saw Hughes approaching from the other way, weapon drawn. The suspect knelt down at the fountain, hand going to the stone. It took me half a second to realize that he was drawing with the blood, and another half second to put it together.

"He's an alchemist! He's drawing an array!"  
I watched Hughes' eyes grow wide out of my peripheral vision and wished that I had stuck closer to him through the chase. I really hadn't been expecting him to be in much danger until Envy. Then again, butterfly effect. I may have taken the place of someone on this squad who was supposed to give him a cold and keep him home sick today.

The man clapped his hands to the circle and lightning flashed, the water rising up and lashing around us. I saw one of the water whips heading for Maes, one of the ones he _wasn't_ watching, and did the only thing that I could think of. He couldn't hear me over the alchemic ring, so there was really only that one option left. I didn't weigh much, but at a run I can still topple over a grown man if I rugby tackle him going the right speed. We hit the ground and I rolled away, feeling the whoosh of the water above us, grimacing at the fact that I'd left my gloves that contained circles at home. I wanted to avoid detection as an alchemist, but not at the cost of our lives. I _could_ just clap my hands and do it, but that would reveal me as a big time player, which I _really_ don't' want to do. So I drew my gun, ducking and running and dodging the whip like things, taking the first available shot.

Without a puppet master the water crashed down, soaking everyone who hadn't had the sense to leave the area directly beside the fountain, namely, me. Hughes got a bit of it, but mostly to his boots and pants legs. I lay there on the ground shivering for a second before rolling over and coughing up the stuff that had made it's way into my lungs. I grimaced, holding back a sneeze, lovely way to spend a-what was today? Right, of course. Tuesday. It's always fucking Tuesday. I nearly jumped when a coat fell over my shoulders, looking up to see Maes, smiling slightly.

"Nice shot."

"Thanks."

I shivered again and he helped haul me up, doing a good job of ignoring all of the water.

"No, thank you. That probably would have been the end of me if you hadn't interfered."

I shrugged,

"Nah, I think you would have gotten out of the hospital in 4-6 months doing just fine."

He huffed in amusement,

"Let's get you out of here, Marvin can take care of things for now."

It was almost two hours later before Marvin burst into the office, looking a bit wet and majorly pissed. He pointed one of the files at me,

"You, you are the reason that I was _swimming_ to find evidence!"

I gave him a deadpan stare.

"Would you rather I had asked the alchemist nicely to please put the water back before I shot him?"  
Maes snorted from over at his desk, quickly covering it up by pretending to answer the phone. We both stared at him as the phone rang not even a second later while he awkwardly answered it,

"Er, hello?"

There was unintelligible shouting from the other end for several seconds before Maes started waving his arms around,

"Woah, woah there, yes, I'm fine."

More shouting.

"What? Who told you that? Well tell Brenda that snitches get stitches."

A second of silence then murmuring.

"I so too could have come up with that phrase myself!"

Yet more shouting.

"Fine, it was one of the people in my office, happy?"  
There was louder shouting, this time we could actually hear a few words, namely 'fuck', 'not happy', and 'damn you Huges'. I very calmly sipped on the noodle soup that the nice people in the cafeteria had put into a rather large mug for me, watching the scene with a bit of amusement. Roy must have found out that Hughes very nearly got flattened in the field. There was a lot more shouting from the other side of the line before Hughes blew a raspberry into the phone,

"Well, I survived. I have competent people over here too you know, your guys aren't the only ones!"

There was a rather loud derisive snort from the other end that every single one of us heard. Marvin and the other guys looked a bit affronted but I just kept sipping on my soup, Roy was right, these guys were idiots. Well, they had moments of brilliance, but they were mostly idiots. I conveniently ignored the fact that he was counting me among those guys at the moment.

There was a bit more arguing that I mostly tuned out right until Hughes shouted.

"What!?"

Roy was speaking normally once more so we had no insight as to the conversation from the other side. Hughes facepalmed dramatically, sliding his hand down slowly before slamming it to the desk.

"You know that I can't leave Central, Gracia's parents are visiting!"

There was probably some jibe about work being a get out of jail free card just for that because Hughes rolled his eyes.

"No, I can't, I don't care how many times you send a formal request. However…"

He glanced over at us.

"I'll send some of my best men!"

There was grumbling from the other end and Hughes grinned in triumph for his next bit, plopping his feet on the desk.

"What, the officer who saved my life and one of those who clean up our dramatic messes? You don't want to work with those two? They'll be so hurt!"  
And with that I knew Hughes won. Roy would want to evaluate the worth of the people who were at his best friend's side in times of danger. Shit. The first time I met this Roy, I did _not_ want it to be when he was observing me under a microscope with the magnification on 'protective bromance' level.

"It's settled then! I'll have them on a train tomorrow!"

He slammed the phone down and pointed to me as well as one of the others in the room, seemingly at random.

"Go home and pack, tell your friends you'll be gone for a while. Get your affairs in order and all that. You leave at 0900 hours."

Sleeping on a train is damn near impossible when one's coworker is determinedly sighing right next to you. After the seventh sigh in that hour I snapped.

"What the fuck is your problem?"  
Said coworker turned to me, smiling pleasantly.

He was one of those recently transferred to our unit. I didn't know him well yet, but what I had seen was ugly. Oh he was pretty enough, but his attitude towards anyone of lower social standing than him left much to be desired. It reminded me entirely too much of Hanes, the traitor, for me to be comfortable. His hair was the same shade of blonde, and they had similar sharp features, it made me wonder if they were related. But Arthur Magnus had nothing of the sort in his file, so I let that theory go.

Magnus nodded to me, and I ignored that voice in the back of my head that said I should smack that smile off his face.

"I'm so glad that you asked. You see, before we left the Lieutenant Colonel took me aside to tell me a few things."

I had seen this, judging from the expression of Christmas come early I had assumed that he had been put in charge. He continued,

"He had many things to say to me, the first of which was that I was the officer in charge of this venture."

He paused, grin growing wider,

"And that I am to discreetly observe you and report as to how you perform away from your official commanding officers."

Well, shit.

"That's right, I have the power to make or break you. I would keep that in mind if I were you."

Basically blackmail. I wasn't supposed to know that he was observing me. He was going to hold it over my head so that I made a fool of myself here. Hm. Act like an idiot in front of Roy or lose Maes approval? This was a question of the ages. I was going to have play dirty. It really is too bad that Magnus isn't aware of the fact I don't give a damn about the rules. Had he known me long enough to figure it out then he might have put up a bit more of a challenge.

The rest of the train ride was spent mostly in silence, Magnus saving up his power for use later. Good, left time for me to plan his downfall. By the time we disembarked in Eastern City I was close to just killing him and hiding the body. If he didn't stop that damned clicking noise he was going to have to go. Immediately.

That sheltered living of his, and subsequent promotion due to 'who knows who' was going to get him killed. He had no idea how real people thought, and it was going to be amusing to watch his plans fall apart because he wasn't even aware he was being an ass. I might not even have to do anything about him, he may very well dig his own grave.

Sergeant Kain Furey was sent to escort us from the train station. I couldn't help but beam at him when he introduced himself once all of the military bullhockey was out of the way. He looked relieved as hell for it, but Magnus's expression was priceless. I talked animatedly with Kain while we were in the car and it blew my coworkers mind. He was too used to the foreigner who took no shit and had a severe case of resting bitch face and no real sense of humor. I was recommending a certain type of tea to help with anxiety, which he briefly admitted was a problem when working for Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, just as we arrived at Eastern Command. Kain hopped out of the car, having sat squished in the back with us at my insistence, to show us the sights out the window. Magnus was well and thoroughly pissed about it, holding me back by the elbow while Kain proceeded to the doors. The energy blob from the front seat remained where it was, probably waiting until we got out so they could park the car. Magnus ignored them completely, seemingly forgetting 'the help'.

"What the hell was that?"  
I raised an eyebrow at him,

"Getting to know our temporary teammate?"  
He shook his head, stern expression slightly wicked.

"I don't think so. You aren't to be friendly to them. They're _Easterners_ , God, don't you know anything about this country? The bad thing about letting damn foreigners work in the Military. You aren't to associate with them more than absolutely necessary, they are _below_ us Central officers."  
I cocked my head to the side, keeping my accent at a slight purr that was honestly more of an affected, exaggerated latino style than anything I would use naturally.

"Well then, I apologize for my ignorance. But unless that's an order I'm afraid I'm going to have to ignore it anyway."

He sneered,

"You aren't to contradict me, no matter what. We must show unity in front of these hicks."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out of his grip, slipping out of the car and rushing to catch up with Kain, who had paused and was looking back at us curiously. I felt Magnus follow, his energy choppy with fury. The familiar energy parked the car, disappearing from my range as we kept walking. Didn't matter to me. Riza Hawkeye knew that someone was trying to sabotage me, that should be enough to get it to the right ears soon enough.

I steeled my nerves as Fury lead us through Eastern Headquarters, ready to see the majority of my old friends, my long time crush, and my brother in all but blood. In all honesty I was more worried about meeting Jean. If I were to accidentally fall into old patterns with him he may very well assume that I was hitting on him, which he would politely decline and we would both be too embarrassed to look at one another for the rest of our lives. Best case scenario right there. I calmed my breathing as best as possible, trying to keep as far away from Magnus as the halls would allow without looking odd. When we finally got to the office my heart was pounding and I could only hope that it didn't show outwardly.

Kain opened the door, motioning around casually,

"This is it! There's 2nd Lieutenant Vato Fallman, 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc, and 2nd Lieutenant Heymans Breda. Hawkeye is out at the moment and the Lieutenant Colonel is in his office."

He pointed to each of them as he introduced them, Fallman giving us a jerky nod, Jean a two finger salute, his unlit cigarette hanging out of his teeth. Breda gave us the stink eye, most likely because he was the investigative specialist of the group and we were encroaching on his territory. I grinned at the lot of them, waving and channeling 'old naive me' that they would have met in the other dimension as Fuery pointed us out.

"This is Second Lieutenant Magnus, and Sergeant Arcaro, the guys from Central. I'll go inform the Lieutenant Colonel that they've arrived."

When neither of them waved back and Fuery had disappeared I resisted the urge to sigh as I put my hand down, ignoring the mean looks Magnus was sending me. I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by Magnus surging forward, motioning to me, a charismatic smile on his face.

"Pay no attention to her, one of the foreigners who enlisted to dodge taxes, barely knows how to speak intelligibly. I'll be the one you're dealing with for most of this."

I had half a mind to speak perfectly unaccented just to fuck with him but that would cast suspicion on my whole story, not what I needed at the moment. I settled for giving him enough of an affronted look to tell them that I at the least understood what was being said around me, but didn't argue with him, as per his orders. Hell, he may honestly believe that my language skills were below par, what with the way I'd been faking it lately. He smirked in triumph before turning back to the other three, sticking his hand out.

"Pleasure to meet you."

Jean, being the closest to him, was the first offered his hand. There was a hard look in his eyes, and I knew that Magnus was hardcore being judged, and Jean wasn't impressed. He took the hand anyway for conventions shake but judging by Magnus's expression the force behind it was anything but pleasant.

The door to the inner office swung open and we jerked to attention, only to be waved down. I averted my eyes, unable to take the sight of a slightly younger Roy Mustang looking us over. The same introductions were exchanged, with Magnus again taking over and repeating his conviction that my language skills were poor at best. I was offended and I'm pretty sure at least a little bit of it showed. Roy just stared Magnus down until fidgeting started and then made a noise in his throat.

"I suppose we'll see how it works. The files are at Breda's desk, get cracking. Report directly to me and me _only_ once you find something."

He didn't so much as glance my way and I had to wonder how much of Magnus's spiel he had believed. Ouch. The files were brought out and immediately Magnus closed it before a copy could be passed to me, speaking slowly,

"Why don't you go get us some coffee, huh? More your speed."

I resisted the urge to clap my hands and send him to hell. I tilted my head, staring him down for a second, just long enough that he started to get angry, (perhaps just a bit unnerved as well) and then nodded jerkily, standing from my chair and exiting the room, leaving my coat hanging by the door.

It wasn't like anyone could get to anything important from it, not without being genetically identical to me. Then again, there were certain pockets that Jeans DNA had access to. I would have to either change that or put something innocuous in it. Eep.

The layout at East was a bit different from Central, smaller, more condensed, and much more like an overturned anthill. Though that could be due to the serial killer. It might have only been a glance at the file, but a glance is more than enough for me. It would still be nice to have more than the first page, though. I got the coffee, eight cups because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to get coffee for Roy as well and Riza was most likely going to be back by the time I got there. I knew how they all liked their coffee but I couldn't exactly get it right the first try with no context. Therefore I got it black and with enough sugar, creamer, and stirrers for it to be fixed to each person's specifications. I had a cardboard holder in each hand as I walked along, dodging crowds with relative ease and using my elbow to open the door, pushing it open enough for me to enter with my hip. My back was to them as I entered, and when I turned around to face them Magnus looked pissed. Not at me, but at the files rather.

"There's no fucking way it's like that! How the hell would expect someone of limited intelligence to manage something that complicated?"  
I snorted, muttering under my breath in Italian.

" _Well, you manage to get dressed in the morning, soooo…"  
_ His glare turned to me,

"What was that?"

I just raised an eyebrow at him, holding out the coffee holder. He sneered,

"Can't you count? That's entirely too much."  
I set the holders on the desk, faux accent well in place, and started counting on my fingers with each name.

"Furey, Fallman, Havoc, Breda, Magnus, Arcaro, Hawkeye, Mustang."

I looked pointedly at the matching number of cups and when I looked back he was rolling his eyes.  
"That isn't what I meant, they aren't here, why would you even-"

The door opened and Riza entered, a few folders under her arm. Furey jumped at the chance to end this, grabbing two cups of coffee and a handful of sugar and creamer packets.

"Here! Lieutenant, for yourself and the Lieutenant Colonel!"

She just raised an eyebrow at him as she took the cups and continued on through to Roy's office. Fuery pointed to the now closed door,

"All fixed."

I mentally applauded him, he was never that bold before. Then again, alternate dimension. Perhaps that had something to do with it.

From then on every time I reached for a file I was cut off by Magnus, sent to fetch some piece of evidence or something more inane. I was getting thoroughly sick of it and was very ready to end the game. Thing is, Magnus would have been succeeding in discrediting me had it been another team. This Unit, however, was not as prone to racism or putting down the lower classes as others might be. His own opinions were clouding his actions, whereas it made sense to him to be treating me like that, and even the others at Eastern, to them it stood out as a bit stupid. It was slightly amusing how he didn't even notice how thoroughly sick of him the others were.

We were given bunks to sleep in that night, and the three nights after that. We really should have been home by then but I hadn't had a chance to look at any of the shit. I got lucky on the fourth day. Magnus had been sent off by Jean, who outranked him, for some reason or another and was still gone when I got back from getting coffee (again). I raised an eyebrow at Fuery, who knew very well that my language skills were fine, but had played along as far as I was aware, most likely to avoid rocking the boat. Fuery pointed to Jean,

"He sent him to get some paperwork. The line in that particular office should keep him gone for at least an hour so you can sit down, or eat or something."

Oh, so someone noticed that I hadn't eaten since I arrived. Well, nice of them. Magnus probably hadn't even realized that it was odd to keep me from taking a lunch break, it wasn't like I ever took one in Central. I doubt he's ever seen me eat. I dropped most of the accent, keeping only the light lilt that I'd kept up naturally for my first year or so in Amestris that had lightened as I got used to speaking 'English' again.

I sank into the chair that he'd kept for himself the entire time,

"Oh, thank _god_ , I thought he'd never step out."

While a majority of them were staring in shock I grabbed a file and sorted through it, glancing at most of them for several seconds and looking out the door to check and make sure he wasn't coming. Of course I was also using the Pulse but the motions were more for dramatic effect, I didn't actually need that long to actually look at the pages. I flicked through most of them,

"Have we checked the second girl's boyfriend?"  
Jean shook himself before coming around beside me to look at the page over my shoulder,

"Ah, yes, he had an alibi."

"What was it?"  
"Erm, dinner with his mother."

I shuffled through the files, raising an eyebrow,

"The mother with Alzheimer's?"

Jean snatched the page, squinting for a second before handing the page back,

"She doesn't have Alzheimer's."

I pointed to the little medical babble to the corner,

"Early onset, not quite officially diagnosed yet, but it's definitely there. Did you get her statement over his whereabouts, with her clearly saying the specific dates and times for each murder?"  
Jean shook his head slowly, mind racing.

"I-no, we-he seemed like such a nice guy."

I resisted the urge to snort rather unattractively,

"Yeah, well, I would take a second look at him, a more indepth one."

Breda stepped forwards, pointing out the other files,

"What about all of the other girls then? He only has possible motive for _one_ of them."

I looked over the ballpark estimate of when the second victim cheated on her boyfriend and then compared it to the other dates.

"Two weeks."

Breda squinted at it,

"What?"

"There's roughly a two week gap between victims, this gap is also between when he learned she cheated, and when the first victim was murdered. The first was spur of the moment, that was already established. But she was similar to the second girl, the one his rage was directed towards. Suppose he was planning to kill her, and the sight of this girl with her own significant other set something off in him. This becomes a crime of passion in one aspect, and in another it's practice. Though I think that was mostly unintentional. He made his mistakes and learned from them. Then he killed the woman he hated. But, perhaps that wasn't enough. The nature of the crimes themselves and how the murders were carried out suggest a rather large amount of repressed rage. Killing her once wasn't enough. So he kills girls that look like her, he gets the satisfaction again and again. Plus, think about it. He really only has motive for one, like you said, so the other murders are even better covers. Why the hell would he kill...ah, Rebecca, when he's supposedly never met her? Hide a specific death among the victims of a 'serial killer'. A tree in the forest."

Breda sat down for a second, mulling it over.

"The murder weapon is a sort of kitchen knife."

I nodded, shifting through the files and handing him the current suspects.

"He works at a bakery that sells all sorts of things, they would have several kinds of knives on hand to cut fruit or some other shit. If he saw the girl while at work, which he admits he had seen her once before around town, then that would be a weapon of convenience, and afterwards just what he's comfortable with."  
Breda and I traded theories back and forth until I felt Magnus' energy through the pulse, I conveniently made one of my now routine checks out of the door, widening my eyes comically and whirling to pretend to be very absorbed in adding sugar to my coffee. Soda had been forbidden from the office because Magnus said the smell put him off. Another very good reason to dump his body in the nearest river, it didn't have a smell unless you put your fucking nose in the only thing stopping me at this point was that Roy might want to know where he went and I didn't really have a good excuse ready.

Magnus was in a high temper and when Jean insisted they investigate the boyfriend once more he snapped at me,

"Grab your shit, we're going out."

Jean hesitated as he was holstering his gun.

"Ah, is that really a good idea? I was planning on leaving her here to help Riza with the papers."

Magnus waved his hands,

"Nah, I prefer to keep her in sight, don't know what she might get up to if unsupervised."

I resisted the urge to point out that I had been out of his line of sight for most of this trip but figured he might get pissy. He really did have the right to give orders like he did, and I was technically disobeying a superior when I had talked to them before, but I suppose by stating theories when he was gone I wasn't arguing with him, since I didn't _know_ his theories, therefore I couldn't contradict them. Frankly I was beyond done with it. I didn't really care what he thought anymore, he was probably going to shit talk me to Maes anyway. This 'observation' was a farce.

The investigation went about as well as I had thought it would, with Magnus trying to strong arm his way through, playing bad cop all the way. He very nearly got knifed for his trouble. I grabbed the collar of his coat and hauled him out of the way the moment I felt the malicious intent surge through the guy's energy, the flash of silver taking most everyone off guard. I snapped a booted foot out to catch him in the solar plexus, unsurprised when he dropped the knife to gasp, the breath knocked out of him. He was a baker, not a trained soldier. While he may have been good at killing and butchering unsuspecting women he wasn't going to react well in a straight fight of any sort. He had no training, beside the little practise with knives in dark alleys. I dispassionately slapped some cuffs on him before handing him over to Jean, who was having trouble not snickering at Magnus' expression, which screamed how angry he was at having his 'moment' stolen. I ignored the little voice that sounded a bit like Truth saying that I very well could have let him get slashed.

The way back to headquarters I managed to arrange it so that I was with Jean and Fuery, with Breda and Magnus escorting the prisoner to wherever he needed to be. The moment we were out of sight of a fuming Magnus I went limp in my seat, groaning.

"If I wanted to commit suicide I would stand on his ego and jump down to his IQ."  
Jean snickered and Fuery rolled his eyes, punching me lightly in the arm.

"Why do you put up with it then?"  
I snorted,

"I'm the foreigner, like he said. A single bad mark on my record and I could be tossed out. And he has the power to put all the black marks he'd like."

Jean glared out the front windshield from where he sat in the drivers seat.

"I hate how people like that work their way to positions where they have power over people."

I sighed heavily, brushing my bangs back,

"Me too. Kind of my goal in life, stop that shit from happening."

Jean glanced at me out of the corner of his eye,

"Really?"

I replied with a shrug,

"Meh, I don't like bullies. I want someone other than a bully in charge. My home before this had an asshole ruler who didn't give a shit about the people. It lead to a very bloody coup and a lot of death. I don't want this place to end up the same."  
Jean took in stride, figuratively at least.

"A good goal to have I suppose. If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to chose Amestris?"  
I glanced at him to see he was looking at me through the rearview mirror. I grinned,

"I met a pair of brothers on my way through, very inspiring they were. The kind of friends you'd fight for so that their home doesn't end up like yours."

He grinned right back as the light changed before looking back at the road.

"I can understand that. Standing behind a friend, good reason for most anything."

Back at headquarters I was told that Magnus was detoured for paperwork for the prisoner and would not be returning until morning. I grinned brightly before surging from my seat and putting my hands in my pockets.

"Brilliant! Anyone want something from the cafeteria?"  
Fuery scrunched up his nose at me,

"What, but it's three in the afternoon!"

I shrugged,

"Hey, when you're starving, you're starving. And I know starving."

I think everyone in the room was eyeing where they could see my collarbone quite clearly through the gap at the top of my uniform. Fuery jumped from his seat,

"I'll go with you, I think it's fish day."

I made a face, grabbing my coat and swinging it on.

"I really hope fish day is different here from in Central."

A deep voice from the doorway to the inner office startled the lot of us.

"It isn't really, but Kain here has a stomach made of steel."

I froze, turning guiltily to Roy, glancing around at the others, unsure if I was supposed to snap to attention or not. He wasn't wearing his uniform shirt and didn't look to be 'on duty' at the moment, but all the same...he flopped a hand at me,

"Don't bother with that at the moment. I heard you were the one to point out the suspect. My thanks for that."

I nodded to him, still unsure how to act. Jean patted me on the back, causing me to stumble a half step forward from the force of it. Whatever he was going to say died on his lips as he frowned down at me.

"Um, when was the last time you ate again?"  
I glanced upwards to the ceiling tiles as I thought about it.

"Erm, the night before we left."

"What! Why didn't you eat once you left here for the day?"

I raised an eyebrow,

"What, I was ordered not to stray from the Lieutenant after a certain hour of the day for my 'own safety' in this particular part of your country."

Jean pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger, closing his eyes and tilting his head down.

"Jeez this idiot. He takes stupidity to a whole new level."

I shifted on my feet, glancing back at the door as if afraid he would pounce back in at any moment.

"His family is...quite influential back in Central. He seems to have taken that and twisted it to mean that those of his level are above others, he doesn't see that he's being a…"

Thinking that I didn't know the word in this language Jean helpfully supplied some.

"Jerk? Idiot? Moron?"

With a wry smile I shrugged,

"Meh, I was going to say cuntwagon, but I guess those work."

Fallman choked on his coffee, Kain was turning colors over at his desk, Roy hid a smile as best he could, but Jean, however, cackled,

"Oh, I like that."

He feigned wiping tears of laughter from one of his eyes while sighing before clapping me on the shoulder,

"Well, we should get you to food before you waste away in front of our eyes."

He dragged me from the room, leaving me to wave helplessly to a laughing Fuery as my heels dragged the ground comically. I determinedly ignored Fallman's eyeroll and Roy's slightly indulgent expression directed at Jean.

The walk to the cafeteria filled me with equal parts joy and guilt. Joy because here was _Jean_ , happy, in uniform, untroubled, and joking with me. But it wasn't _my_ Jean, which is where the guilt came from. _My_ people were back in the other dimension, either missing me or cursing me for abandoning them like I did. These guys were them, but at the same time they weren't. It was headache inducing, and I honestly wasn't sure how to feel.

For the moment though, I allowed myself a bit of happiness, reacting to all of Jean's jokes just the way I knew was intended. I'd heard them all before, but it didn't matter. I was, in some ways, sort of home.

 **While it's the last day (Dec. 21st) please please please go do some voting on Inkitt for River of Opals ^.^"**

 **TimeLordOfPie**


	18. Chapter 18

The actual trial was something that could take place without us, so Magnus made the executive decision to stay for it anyway. You'd think what with his dislike for all things Eastern that we would have blown this taco stand a long time ago, but no. We were bumming around in the office getting in the way. Well, Magnus was, I (as usual) was sent off to run errands. By the second day after the killer was caught Riza had returned in time to see it happening. She was not pleased. I ended up running errands for _her_ instead. Seeing as she outranked Magnus he shut the fuck up and handed me over to her. I became Riza's minion, which was honestly much better than Magnus'.

From the first moment she picked me up we were moving. If I hadn't already known her I may have floundered with the cold facade she put up. As it was I still felt mostly unwelcome a majority of the time. Her orders were abrupt, and there was no room for argument.

I ran files for her, and helped her carry shit. Most of the time I was carrying things to reduce the number of trips she would have to make, or just being there as support. It took me a few run ins with people to realize that she was using my company as an excuse to brush people off. Well played, Riza, well played. When lunch came around she dragged me with her, sitting me down at a table and eating slower than I knew she usually would, giving me a break and time to actually eat. Let it not be said that Riza is unkind.

After another week of being stuck in East City I was starting to lose faith that someone would call Magnus on his bullshit. I could understand why Maes sent _him_ along, of all people, he wanted to be rid of the bastard. I was sent to appease Roy, as the one who 'saved his life' or something equally dramatic that Maes may have told him, but Magnus was just out of his hair. I was starting to get the feeling that Maes hadn't told Magnus to keep an eye on me at all, I had taken him at his word before, but now I felt like ringing Maes just to call bullshit.

Riza's file hopping took a while to lead to Roy's office, but when it did she usually left me outside. Roy's inner office from East was a mysterious place that I had never been, and I didn't plan on visiting it until Riza held the door open for me, ushering me and the files I was carrying through the door. I set them down on the desk as Riza had indicating, avoiding looking at Roy, instead watching my feet, standing at parade rest and waiting for Riza to give me another order. She didn't, instead stepping forwards and sorting through the files, setting them into different stacks on the desk, the silence oppressive only to me.

A similar scene happened every time we went into the office, which happened a lot more than I was comfortable with. After another week it was approaching a month and a half of being stuck here. I was well and thoroughly sick of it. Riza was on her own in Roy's office, talking about something or another, when Jean dropped a file in my lap. I raised an eyebrow at him but he shook his head, crossing his arms.

"If you're going to be here then you may as well pull your weight!"

The others in the room seemed to have an epiphany then, lumping their paperwork on me as well. Familiar picture, this was. Riza glared at them when she came back out, and while they showed fear there was no regret. She ended up rolling her eyes and leaving me to it, going back to her usual routine. It was slightly sad, seeing her go. We'd become almost friendly these past few weeks.

But I was back to doing work for these dunderheads, (said lovingly, don't get me wrong), which was also entertaining. Files crossed my borrowed desk, actually a small corner of Fuery's desk, that probably weren't supposed to be seen by someone from Central. The plot begins. Entirely too soon, too. I had thought that the scheme with Drachma and war and junk was just in the other dimension, not a theme shared in the first anime, but apparently I was wrong. Strange, it hadn't come into play in the first anime at all. Which probably meant that I wasn't supposed to fuck with it and that it would all work out, tying itself off rather nicely into a neat little bow all on its own. But later Roy could realize that I learned this and never told him. Then again, I could play dumb. But as they say, the truth will out...And Truth is a little bitch, as I well know. After three straight days of deliberation and gathering of files I was ready to march into Roy's office and shove them at him, whether he was going to believe me or not, but I was called in there by Riza before I could do any such thing. I took the file I'd compiled with me, nervously sticking my head in only to be motioned the rest of the way and told to shut the door.

Roy was sitting at his desk, a very imposing picture if I'm honest, his hands crossed in front of his nose and his elbows resting on the surface in front of him.

"Sergeant Arcaro. Has Lieutenant Magnus passed on to you when he plans to head back to Central?"

I blinked before grimacing,

"Permission to speak freely?"

I barely caught the amusement before he inclined his head slightly.  
"The building could be on fire and he wouldn't tell me on his way out. I'm not going to get any warning when he finally decides to get his shit together."

Roy snorted, not bothering to pretend he wasn't amused. He looked over at the wall calender before sighing,

"Alright, well, if that's all-"

I held up the papers and he paused so I interjected.

"If I may? I...found something that you may want to know."  
He arched an eyebrow before holding his hand out for the file. I gave it to him, biting my lip all the while and falling back into parade rest immediately afterwards.

"There are notations, my handwriting, sorry if it's illegible, but most of it is pointing out the discrepancies between reports."

His eyes widened and he set the files down so that he could spread them out, comparing a few at once.

"This is…."

I shrugged,

"It's only what I've come across in Central compared with what I've seen here. It could be different at the other outposts but…"

He looked up at me sharply,

"But…?"  
"I don't believe in coincidences. It contrasts a little too well."

It was almost identical to the shit that had been going down in the other Amestris, the shit that I'd gotten into right before I was captured and tortured. Roy sat back in his chair, observing me with dark, serious eyes.

"Why have you brought this to my attention?"  
"Discrepancies are to be reported-"

He cut me off with a wave of his hand, not taking his eyes off mine,

"You know what I mean. This, this is big. Someone in the Military is warmongering and you handed me dangerous suspicions. Now I'll ask again, why _me_?"  
I tilted my head, going through how to phrase it properly without giving anything away or setting off red flags.

"Of all the people in this country that I've met, I trust few, and I like fewer. There are even less that fit into both categories, Maes Hughes being one of them. _He_ trusts you, his opinion is enough for me."  
I got an incredulous look,

"That's all?"

I snorted,

"What were you expecting? Some long winded explanation about the depth of your character and aura of good will? You come highly recommended Lieutenant Colonel, all there is to it."

He looked childishly disappointed and I saw Riza roll her eyes in my peripherals. He coughed into his hand, still looking peeved before waving,

"If that's all then."

I turned to open the door and he stopped me,

"And Arcaro?"  
I paused, looking back at him over my shoulder.

"If you wouldn't mind keeping me informed about this...mess?"  
Ugh, last time I got into that shit I payed for it in blood, tears, and mental scarring. And physical, too. But it was Roy asking. Not _my_ Roy, but it was still Roy, just the same, only younger, this one had the same experiences so far. That was very little divergence at the moment, really...It was like a second chance. Same person, just starting in a different way.

After a slight pause I nodded anyway before ducking out of the room. Jean was waiting for me,

"What was that all about?"  
"Wants to know when Magnus is getting our asses back to Central. Think he's tired of me lounging around in your office space."  
Jean made an exaggerated 'pained' expression.

"What? He wants to rid me of my midget?! No!"

There was an anime hug, the visuals everywhere went fuzzy and strange while he squeezed the life out of me. I panicked for half a second before going limp and just letting him toss me around for a bit, anime tears streaming from his face. When he finally put me down I slumped over in my seat to recover while he had a comical whispered meeting with Fuery about convincing Roy to let them 'keep me'.

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to sit up.

"No matter how much Magnus may insist, I am not a pet. You know this, right?"  
Jean turned to me, going serious for a second,

"I know, which is why you should stay here. We'd take so much better care of you!"  
He was all anime rainbows and grins by the end of it so I just rolled my eyes again, smiling fondly before pulling myself up in my seat to go back to work.

The next few days I spent mostly trying to dig up what else was wrong just here at Eastern Command. It didn't take long since I was following the same paths as in the other dimension. This time I had the leisure to take all the little rabbit trails, filing everything neatly enough and slipping it into my reports that I handed to Mustang.

Roy and Riza were the only ones besides myself who knew that someone up top was trying to piss Drachma off, or at the very least keep them in a perpetual state of heightened agitation. Part of me was relieved that I wasn't alone in knowing anymore, and another part of me was screaming about stepping on butterflies and ripple effects. Just look at when they un-sunk the Titanic. I ignored that dissenter well enough, I had plenty of closets to shove her in when it got too annoying.

I was deep into my investigation one day when Magnus slammed open the door, scaring most of us out of our skins. He pointed to me,

"Grab your shit, we leave in an hour."  
He whirled back out, leaving us blinking in his wake. I was frozen for all of five seconds before I jumped up, slamming papers back into folders and trying to slot most of them back where they came from in the cart Riza had brought by. Jean held up a hand,

"I'll get it for you."  
"Thanks."

I shoved all of my personal belongings into my coat pockets as I swung it on, striding swiftly over to Roy's door and knocking firmly, marching in once permission came. I didn't bother to step all the way in,

"Magnus dropped by, we leave in an hour."

Roy's face darkened and I saw him visibly resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"Of course he did."

He ran a hand through his hair sloppily before sighing.

"Well, it was a pleasure working with you Sergeant Arcaro. Please, feel free to call if you have any... _concerns_ about the project you worked on during your stay here."  
I nodded,

"Of course sir."

I closed the door behind me, rushing for the hall, waving at everyone behind me,

"It was brilliant meeting you guys! Feel free to contact me if you ever need anything, advise, bail, body disposal, you know, the everyday things."

Fuery snorted, managing to still look like a kicked puppy even through the amusement.

"You didn't leave a number!"

I dug in my pocket, finding my new journal and flipping to a page that only had animal doodles on it, no notes or code, and ripped it out, grabbing a pen from Jeans desk and scribbling the number on it and shoving it at Jean.

He glanced down at the picture and did a double take,

"What the hell is that?!"

"A Cassowary, it's from home and terrifyingly real."

I dropped the pen and rushed out the door, waving and calling behind me. Once I was out in the halls I slowed to a brisk walk, making it to my bunk in time to shove my clothes into my bag with some semblance of order before taking off at a sprint. The car leaving for the train station nearly left without me, mainly because Magnus is a dick.

But I made it onto the train, staring balefully out the window while Magnus flicked through some papers he had gathered during our stay here. As much as I loved Central for being home, and Maes for being, well, _Maes_ , it wasn't the same as being near that team. I wanted it back where I'd had it before, with Maes only a building away, Jean living with me, and working for Roy. How ironic, really, that I wished to work for Maes again only to want things back once more. I must be a rather fickle person.

I tried not to dwell on it as the scenery flashed by us, concentrating instead on the theories I had for the government of this place. Oh, they were right Bastards. And slowly but surely I was gathering _proof_. If I was lucky Maes wouldn't even have to fake his death. No one would die, none of the good guys anyway, no libraries would burn down, no cities would be sacked. My next target was set, now I only needed to wait. Or get creative.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	19. Chapter 19

I considered arranging a trip to Northern Headquarters, just to make sure that Olivier Armstrong existed in this universe but never really got the chance. In between the work with the Investigations unit I was assigned to and all of the down low stuff I was doing for Roy I barely had time to sleep. And that's _me_ talking. Jean probably assumed I was skiving off the work for Central in order to keep slipping him those semi-coded reports. We'd worked out a system soon enough, Jean would call from a payphone, pretending to flirt until no one was listening and I had secured the line all the way through, and then we would exchange information. I had sarcastically pointed out the unfair rate of exchange, with me giving more than I was receiving, and when Jean had reacted with a bit of anxiousness I'd had to set him straight.

"I frankly don't care, Jean. This is your county anyway. What the hell am I going to be doing with the information you would hand over anyway, make a scrapbook and giggle over how fucked up every place I attempt to live is? Please, you can make it up to me by explaining to Hughes that the two of us aren't involved, you've apparently been calling me too much at work just to chat and he's gotten romantic ideas into his head."  
My deadpan delivery and prompt hang up got me places. The next day there was an awkward phone call to Hughes to set things straight, one that I laughed through from my desk in the corner.

It was duly noted that I was nicer, much more relaxed, upon my return from Eastern Headquarters. I laughed more, joked more, was friendlier all around. Magnus was gone after a short while, I eventually learned through Jean that Roy had made a single phone call about 'that dickhead' and he was out of our unit. Maes doesn't tolerate bullying apparently. Malcolm was nicer, as well as Phoebe Knight, our rather busty secretary. She wasn't a civilian, but she didn't carry a weapon or have a rank, it was rather confusing so I didn't bother with it. Her job was to keep the place organized and make sure that Maes got where he needed to be and signed what he needed to sign. Those last two duties actually applied to everyone but we were less likely to slack off so she basically made a full time job out of keeping him where he needed to be. Roy was yanked out of one daughter centric phone call after another because Phoebe lost it. That woman was frightening. Like Riza only with more pink and...feminine-ness. Her nails were scary long and painted brilliant colors on a regular basis if that tells you anything.

The other two people on the team were recycled so often that I began to understand why there was such a different team dynamic when I had landed in the other universe. This dynamic hadn't worked as he'd liked and by then he'd smoothed out the process. The awkward silences decreased as we got closer to finding people who would properly complete the team, and Malcolm got over himself enough to realize that I was in fact a human being. We had a weird like/hate relationship. I would say the classic love/hate, but we wouldn't ever be the type to go for lunch together, even if the only way we would be allowed to eat was to bring a partner. There was working together and being amiable, and then there was socializing, which was apparently a no-no.

Between digging things up for Roy, Maes, and whatever asswagon in the hierarchy above me, keeping track of Drachma, and a lookout for Cornello I was at my wits end. I ended up having to create different rooms in my mind for the situations, each with the cork boards and colored strings. Drachma was a touchy subject but was best left largely untouched until the current government was torn down and rebuilt. Explaining that to Roy was going to be a chore. Cornello was also slightly touchy because _hellooo_ , Homunculi and shit. I would have to build up some major influence or at the very least a _legion_ of spies. Well, starting some in Liore just as I had before in Central would take a bit of effort and some touchy planning but it was possible. I was going to have to start making friends, allies at the very least, within Central itself. Starting with the lower ranks. The faceless masses tended to work better for Coups than having all of the higher ups on your side, the fact that I knew this through experience was sort of sad.

I was invited to the Hughes household for dinner. That was the turning point, I think, the place when things started to go to the way they were in that other world. I probably should have turned back, put up some distance, made sure to differentiate between the two families. But I am a weak, weak, person.

Elicia is just as cute and lovable when younger. She took to me just as quickly as the time before, which I had to wonder about. Kids are said to be good judges of character, I couldn't explain why this one apparently wasn't. Gracia was charming as always, welcoming to a fault, and there was pie. In other words, just like always.

I had thought that things would be different, because I was a different person when meeting them, but the events for them were mostly the same up to this point. Apparently they're nuts no matter the dimension because my quirks, now different, were once again accepted with minimal fuss. It was...odd, to say the least. Though all I needed was Jean back in my apartment and the rest of the squad back in Central and things were as they should be. Though that wasn't going to happen this time. None of the events would line up the same any more. For one, the villains were different, mostly, and the plot itself was strange. Plus I knew what the hell was going on this time, or, well, more than last time. Specific events and filler episodes were lost to me, but overall and the movie and shit, I had that down.

I started taking walks in Central, dressed in Civilian clothing. I would check out shops, and restaurants, visiting my old favorite places as well as Jeans and Rizas, playing tourist every now and then, but mostly I was making a map. A mental map that wasn't all buildings and shit, but mostly the Pulse. Like a thermographic map of the city, where the 'hotspots' were for energy. There was always the latent stuff that was just 'life', and then there were places that I was almost positive were homunculi hangouts. Though Central wasn't featured nearly as often in this version as Dublith I think, as far as 'hangouts for homunculi' went. I wasn't bothered with Greed, he could have his run of the seedy underbelly of that place, so long as I could keep my homeless network.

As far as the homeless network went I would have to wait for funds to rank up before that began. Last time my smuggling network was ignored because of who I knew, the only ones in the Military in a position to find out about it wouldn't care because they knew me and knew that I wasn't doing anything particularly _wrong_ just illegal, which in Amestris are actually two very separate concepts.

I had finished the map of the city and made note of a few places in this dimension that didn't exist in the other before going home. Apparently I have weekends off now like the rest of the team. Hughes phrasing of his question of why I was there gave me the information so I was able to avoid the embarrassment of admitting I hadn't fucking known.

So, on a very nice Saturday I was able to gather information around the town from the butcher, originally from Drachma, and the baker who was originally from Creta. I didn't want another Clemons sneaking the fuck up on me. After all of that mess I returned home, with more steak and bread than I could handle, stocking the fridge and deciding I would cook instead of ordering out. After starting something and setting the timer I collapsed on the sofa, legs splayed over the arm of the couch, grabbing the phone and dialing the number by heart, bringing the information I'd gathered that morning and the stuff from the three days previous right to the forefront of my mind. I'd mailed Fuery a lovely little mechanical device, well two devices. They were exactly the same, but one was for him to take apart to his little heart's content. The other was for bugging Roy's phone. It wasn't an _actual_ bug, more a reverse bug that could be flicked on or off depending on the corresponding bug on the phone on the other end of the phone line. Each phone had a signature and when the signatures resonated the bug would activate. There was an extra tone to the ring of the phone which would tell easily enough who was calling so long as the one being called wasn't tone deaf. Maes was thrilled with the one on his phone as well. There was a network, Roy's work phone, Maes work and home phones, and my home phone. It made all the secrecy possible. I'd been working on the theory for years and had a breakthrough on a sleepless night almost two months ago. Roy had been uncertain of them for almost two weeks until Central headquarters had called and apologized for how often his calls to Central were dropping and that they were working on that rat in the wiring, honest.

I waited while the phone rang, checking the clock as an afterthought. Three o'clock on a Saturday. At this point in time Roy's unit worked all days of the week but Wednesday and Thursday from Nine to Five. When he picked up he sounded relieved,

"Tell her that this is important, Arcaro."

The phone was thrust over to someone else and I heard Riza sigh into the phone as I restrained a giggle, replying with all seriousness.

"I've received word from my contacts in Creta as well as Drachma. There's also a new round of translations from the spy caught in Northern Headquarters and subsequently... _interrogated_."

Riza restrained yet another sigh before handing the phone back. I could barely hear her threatening that he still had to finish that paperwork later before the door closed behind her. Roy sighed into the phone and I heard the familiar sound of his boots being propped up onto his desk.

"Thank god you called when you did. She wanted to work on _requisition forms_."

I shivered in disgust,

"Oh, the horror."

My sarcasm fell a bit flat as I reminisced on the stuff, which was actually rather horrifying.

Roy chimed in,

"Well, what do ya have for me Glenda?"  
I was on one hand glad to have a code name like everyone on his unit, on the other I was a bit pissed that I was the good witch from the Wizard of Oz. Not that he even knew the reference, but still.

"Creta is having economic issues, mostly centered around the supply of coal. Their mining industry is having some form of setback, I think it's because the equipment is so outdated they might as well be yelling at the coal to mine itself. Then again it could also be because their _techniques_ are outdated and shit keeps collapsing inwards, but you know, I'm not an expert so whatever."

He said something under his breath that I didn't catch so I ignored it, continuing,

"Then there's Drachma. Apparently it's really fucking cold."

He snorted, unable to stop himself, clearing his throat.

"Erm, isn't it always cold in Drachma?"  
"Meh, usually, but it's at least five degrees lower than what it usually is at this time of the year, and while five degrees doesn't seem that much it's the difference between 'ouch' and 'boiled alive', as well as the difference between 'hale and shivery' and 'oh fuck where did my toes go'."

I pulled up a particular sheet of paper in my mind,

"Hrm, there's also the issue with the overpopulation of bears, they're thinking of extending hunting season, as well as the areas where the permits are affecting-"

"And what the hell does this have to do with Amestris?"  
He sounded a little peeved so I sat up,

"Well, if the borders for hunting extend then the people at Northern Headquarters will hear gunfire at different times than the set hunting season they're used to, as well as hearing it closer than they've become accustomed and comfortable with. For some reason the translations about this in Central were mistranslated to read that the season was continuing as normal because the excess population that was originally projected was taken low because of a parasite only affecting bears. While I understand that sometime science does shit like this I _doubt_ that 'we hunt long time this year' mistranslated to 'parasites fucking everywhere bro'. So, this has a _bit_ to do with Amestris in my opinion."

I could practically hear him trying to restrain from ripping his hair out.

" _What_ is your proposed solution?"  
He'd gotten better about taking my advice with Drachma, learning pretty quickly that I knew how to handle these guys.

"I would get one of your Eastern contacts to send the correct translation to Northern headquarters and say something like 'sorry, we got your mail' or some shit. You won't believe how often we get Southern Commands mail about the new farming regulations. If I have to read one more novel length excuse about why wheat needs to grow for a week longer than it currently is I might have to jump off a bridge."

"Try to refrain from doing so in the near future."

I glanced over at the pot on the stove to judge its progress before continuing with my report.

"In any case, there's that option, I'm already sending the shit you need in the mail, decode same as before, though the Drachman is the same as it needs to be, I'm not going to force poor Fuery to decode Drachman through four ciphers."

I heard the squeak of Roy's chair shifting for a second before he responded.

"The only one who sees those ciphers and keys is me. I don't want to put anyone else in the line of fire should we be found out."

I hesitated before answering honestly,

"Hah, just throw it all on me, I'm used to it. The worst they could do is throw me out of the country. In that case I'll just send the same information straight from some godforsaken cabin in Drachma."

"Why? You would be released from any military obligations the moment your temporary citizenship was retracted."

I snorted, not bothering to hold it back,

"You think I'm doing this because it's my _job_? Newsflash, I don't give a damn about this military. But _people_ are getting hurt because of their stupid decisions. It's the government's job to protect and care for it's people, not the other fucking way around. If I have to bend hand fulls of laws and break all of the others then so be it, but I'm not letting another country go to hell in front of me."

There was silence and I feared for this Roy's reaction for a second before he chuckled.

"I knew there was a reason that I liked you, Arcaro. Welcome aboard then."

"Wonderful, the treason train, I hope there's alcohol in the tiny little bottles, we're going to need it."

He laughed full out at that before stopping suddenly, freezing before sighing.

"Thought she'd heard me. Damn that woman, her hearing is almost better than her eyesight."

I was about to reply when the timer on the dining room table went off, ungodly loud. I heard Roy's chair hit the ground as he stood,

"What was that?"  
As his mind went from bomb to alchemy, to god knows what else I dug out my sonic screwdriver and flicked it at the phone, turning on speaker so that I could hear and communicate from the kitchen. I made a mental note to invent the cordless phone a few decades early before I responded.

"That was the kitchen timer, though your concern is heartwarming."

"Kitchen...timer?"  
I rolled my eyes, slightly grateful that he couldn't see the action.

"What, did you think that these conversations happened at a payphone? I'm off on Saturdays and I _am_ a human being, I need sustenance."

I turned the heat down, adding the shredded carrots and green onions before stirring the chicken broth, going through the checklist of things he needed to know.

"Anyway, there's some shit going down in Aerugo, apparently the throne has been empty for like ten years and the advisor didn't tell anyone the king was dead so that he could lowkey rule the country."

I heard the sound of Roy setting his chair back the proper way, groaning.

"Why do you have to tell me such things?"

I shrugged, not caring that he couldn't' see it.

"Well, you should know what's going on in the countries around you. It's hard to take care of one country if you don't know that just outside the borders there's a ticking timebomb slowly leaking its crazies into the population in order to stir up trouble. I've had to track down seven Cretan natives who were involved in the drug trade, just this month. Don't even get me started on _last_ month. Then there's the second generation Auergan who murdered four people because he didn't like the shape of their noses. You Amestrians need quality psychologists."

You could practically _hear_ Roy's oncoming headache over the crackling line.

"And what about your country? Did it have problems like this?"

I couldn't help the slightly hysterical laughter.

"I'm going to tell you something that you can't tell your military."

There was a grumbling of 'oh, goody, more of this' before I continued,

"I had two countries before this one. The first one had a much higher crime rate and the drug lords were ten times as creative. It was also much, much bigger. After that there was a smaller place where the crime lord was me."

I could practically hear him freezing in his motions.

"Don't be like that, I didn't murder people or sell drugs. I trafficked in goods that the people needed and sold them at decent prices. It was basically tax evasion on a very massive scale. As well as getting meds that the government had an embargo on because their tangled laws wouldn't allow them to be taxed properly. My crime was mostly white collar, which is odd because I don't really see myself as a white collar criminal. Where I'm going with all of this is that all countries I've been to have been about as shitty or shittier than this one. I'm also lowkey asking permission to start up a smuggling ring so that I can get spies in nice places and some funding for tearing down the corrupt brass."

There was tense silence before the laughter started. I was almost offended, but I waited it out, there were a few hysterical attempts to catch breath before he finally spoke actual words.

"Permission? You've come to the conclusion that I'm in charge of all the, the, _resistance_ things we have going on right now?"

I lowered my voice, leaning against the counter.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how Hughes takes his cues from you 'Chief'. You might have Central Command, and perhaps even most of Eastern Command fooled, but I'm not blind. I've seen coups, war, and political uprisings, I've even participated in some of them. I know the leader when I see it, and our little shadow puppet leader, that's _you_. Some aren't even aware that they're pawns, but you've got them figured out. You know the right buttons to press and wires to tug. I'll applaud you for that. But after some deliberation I've decided that you're the best option available. At the moment I'm your only pawn that _knows_ it's a pawn. So yes, I'm going to ask permission. Do we break the laws, shatter them into oblivion, in order to build them back up into a more stable web?"

We were having a dark little anime moment, and I could practically hear the dramatic music playing under the silence before there was one last, low laugh.

"I underestimated you. I think we all did, save Hughes. He must have known you would be useful, to put you permanently on his team right from the beginning."

A deep breath.

"Alright then, Pawn Arcaro. Return to your criminal roots all you like. But keep civilian casualties to nothing, got it?"  
I made a humming noise in the back of my throat.

"If we're being honest then my roots are technically military, as well as high up in the government, before I needed to turn criminal. It's turning into a vicious cycle. I'll try to send updates on that as well. Enjoy your evening, Lieutenant Colonel."

A flick of the Sonic and the call was ended.

I ate quickly, storing the leftovers in the fridge and set down with a soda at the kitchen table to start planning my illegal endeavors. So what if there was a manic gleam in my eye and unholy glee in my handwriting? Plans were coming together with minimal issues. But there was still a horde of inhuman creatures to worry about and guard against. The white glove in my coat pocket was a constant reminder that not all loose ends were becoming tied so very neatly.

 **Merry Christmas, Guest Mel ;)**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	20. Chapter 20

Dublith. Leore. Those are the places I need to worry about. Central and Drachma need to be kept in the back of my mind, one because it's a time bomb and the other because it has homunculi hanging around. I have to wonder if they can still sense something strange or 'off' about me in this dimension. I haven't been able to examine one's reaction to me on account of the fact that I've been able to completely avoid them thus far.

I was able to start up my smuggling ring in three short weeks. It was difficult and I spent many sleepless nights copying down novels from my world to print under an alias so I could make some cash, but it was worth it. Oh, I didn't do anything groundbreaking like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but some Boxcar Children can get you a long ways, especially when there's, like, a bajillion of the suckers and it's rather easy to tweak the time period so that it makes sense to these guys. The money was enough to get things started, but things went slower because my lack of connection to Madame Christmas. I wasn't sure if either she didn't exist in this dimension or if Roy didn't trust me enough to introduce me to her. Both options hurt equally so I tried not to think about them.

Fuery called regularly just to be social and check on me, making sure I was eating and that things were going alright. Jean sometimes did the same, calling from outside the usual business calls, usually from something traceable, probably more to cover his tracks in case he slipped up and mentioned me having said something amusing or referencing a phrase he coined from me. We have an initial meeting and a month or so of amiable companionship on file, keeping it up over the distance isn't too far off in left field for it to be believable.

I was running errands for Maes around town when I ran into someone rather familiar. He was hassling a restaurant owner about the food with a rather nervous looking suit of armour sitting at the table opposite him. I watched for a bit until the man ran off before swooping in and sitting facing the street, dragging a chair from the table next to them and situating myself at the side between them.

"So, boys, how's it going?"

Edward started before pointing his chicken leg at me, scowling,

"Don't do that to me, jeez."

He looked me over for a second before jerking his chin in my direction.

"So, I see you got into the military."  
"Yup. Investigations, serving under a man by the name of Hughes."

He whistled,

"How'd you manage that?"

"Dumb luck and a little bit of future knowledge."

Al fluttered his hands about, as if unsure what to do with them.

"Um, it's good to see you again, how are you?"

I shrugged,

"I'm alive, which I'm a bit proud of actually. What brings you two all the way to Central?"

Al answered since Edward had just stuffed potatoes into his mouth.

"We were in the area and decided to step into the city to visit the Hughes family."

Edward nodded in agreement and I gave them both a half smile before sliding a small folded piece of paper to Alphonse, whose hands were free from grease and chicken, unlike his brother.

"That's my home number, the line is secure. If you ever need anything, bail money, body disposal, information, just give me a call, okay? I have to get back to the office, but don't hesitate if you need help alright?"  
Al stuttered shyly over a response and Edward gave a thumbs up from where he once again had a mouthful of potatoes.

I was late arriving back at the office, a reasonably unusual occurrence, which is why I assumed Maes looked so relieved to see me. I was wrong. Very wrong.

There were men in our office, ones that I didn't recognise, which set off alarm bells almost immediately. I knew all the men who worked in Central Headquarters, maybe not their names, but definitely their faces. Maes stood up, grinning at me widely, motioning to the men in front of him.

"Sergeant! Good, I thought I'd have to send out a search party. I'm glad you're back I have some _great_ news!"

He motioned to the chair in front of his desk, the look on his face telling me not to argue. I set the files I was carrying down on my desk before proceeding to sit in the chair in question, quirking an eyebrow at him. He pointed to the three men, all of around the same height and with dark hair and pale complexions.

"These are your countrymen!"

Um, I _really_ don't think so.

He continued, "They've just traveled in from, Tatooine was it? To inform you that they've gotten things straightened out. They've apparently been tasked to wander about and find all of the refugees and bring them home since things have stabilized, isn't that wonderful!"

His expression was cheerful, though not entirely genuine. Perhaps he didn't want to see me go. I wasn't counting on it though. More likely he could smell a rat about this whole thing.

I turned to the men, eyeing the skinniest one for a second before speaking in rapid fire Italian,

" _Bro, do you even lift?_ "

The man in the center, who was apparently in charge, raised a hand up slightly,

"Please, speak plainly, we don't wish to be rude to any who don't know our language."

I'd had the slightest horrifying idea that perhaps Tatooine happened to be real here and that's where they were from but that wasn't the case. It was possible that he had understood me and had simply ignored my rudeness, the statement could be meant to disarm any tension I was attempting to create.

This could all have been true, but for the fact that his accent was Auregan. I spent enough time there before entering Amestris in this dimension, and dealing with my spies, that I could identify it without even consulting my mental sound bytes.

There was someone who wanted me to believe that I was being sent for by delegates from a country that doesn't exist. I couldn't exactly _tell them_ that Tatooine wasn't a country, but in fact a mythical planet, but I could play along and see what this stupidity is all about.

So I nodded to him, pulling names and scenarios from deep memory files and bullshiting,

"Fair enough, was Rasputin removed from the throne?" I allowed my expression to harden as I sat back in the chair, "Or did you simply _put down_ the remains of the revolution...again?"

The man waved a hand again,

"Enough, we don't wish to speak of this around outsiders, no offense meant Lieutenant Colonel. The affairs of our country will not be dealt with outside of the country, it is a new policy put into place. Now, shall you be returning home with us?"  
As much as I wished to see _that_ particular scenario play out the look on Hughes face made me think it wouldn't be such a good idea. I tilted my head, as if giving it some thought.

"Do I have a choice? Or are you enacting the right to drag back 'government property'?"  
He looked appalled for half a second, the only crack I'd seen in his mask so far.

"Of course not, Sergeant. If you wish to stay here then we will not hinder you, just know that home, where you belong, is improving."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I highly doubt that."

I paused, as if thinking things through. The silence was heavy and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"Thank you for the offer, as well as taking the time to inform me, but I have no one left there, and I seem to have made a place for myself here."

The man, who still hadn't introduced himself, shook his head gravely. I took a split second to contemplate why he would allow such a rude thing to go on this long until I realized whoever was pretending that they knew where I came from didn't know how names worked there. They had one example, me. And as far as they knew, and what they could gather from my accent, it could be some sort of rough translation or dumbing down, like Kida from Atlantis actually being Kidagakash. I could tear down their entire, tenuous attempt to fool me, right now if I asked the right questions.

"Are you certain? You could have your position in the Government returned, just as far up the ladder as before if not further, if you are worried about your future. The new regime is more than willing to have your skills added to their ranks."

I froze, trying to think of how they would know who I had been, how they could have found out. The only person I had ever told that who lived here was- I stood quickly, putting on a strained smile.

"I'm quite sure, I'm perfectly happy here. I'm glad Tatooine got it's shit together and I wish it the best of luck, but everyone that meant anything to me is gone."

That wrapped things up rather nicely. The man bowed, the other two following suite and nodding to Maes before excusing themselves from the room. I checked the pulse, making sure that no one was near enough to over hear anything before I closed the door, being thankful for a second that the others were out of the office at the moment. I paused, still facing the door, before I turned back to Maes, stone faced.

"Did you know?"  
He raised an eyebrow,

"Know what? That you're country was doing better? I only just found out, I haven't kept anything from you-"

I stepped closer and placed both slightly shaking hands gently on the desk, cutting him off. I took a few deep breaths before raising my head to look him in the eye.

"Did you know that the scene you just witnessed was your best friend playing mind games with me?"

It was quick, but my mind is quicker. He couldn't stifle the reaction completely. I sighed before slumping into the chair in front of the desk.

"So you did know."

Maes groaned, rubbing his eyes,

"Well, I knew that this was a bad idea."

"Then why did you do it?"

"...Roy just _had_ to know. He didn't understand your loyalty, didn't trust it. He wanted to test you, to put something in your reach, home, the possibility of power, just to see if you cracked, if _that_ is actually what you were after. A new government to work your way through and control. When did you notice that it wasn't real? Actually, _how_ did you know?"  
 _From the beginning._

"I realized when he mentioned the government position, so your test was worthless in the end. As to _how_ , well, the people who knew what I was, _who_ I was, they're all gone. That last coup was rather thorough. The only person on this Earth who knew was Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, because I confided in him not long ago."

I stood up, putting my hands into my pockets and staring down at my feet.

"I'm sorry that you feel the need to test me, that you don't trust me, but I understand it. What I don't understand is the cruelty. To take someone who's lost everything and tell them they can have it back...what would you have done if I had accepted, if I had wanted to return home? Just for the sake of being _home._ Tell me sorry, you failed the test, and then shut me out? Never mind, don't answer that. I don't really want to know."

I turned swiftly, opening the door, glancing back at a rather ashen faced Hughes,

"It's getting late, I'm headed home."

The walk back to my apartment took longer than usual, whether due to the cold or my own heavy thoughts was subject to debate. On one hand I couldn't believe they would do something like that, on the other I could very well believe it and even understand it. That information was all they had to use against me, the only test they could administer. And someone like me, who had 'all' the answers, who was so 'loyal' and 'dedicated' to them, right from the beginning for no real reason, it _was_ rather suspicious. But had I really been holding hope for Tatooine, then I would be crushed. This could go one of two ways. They would either apologize and attempt to earn back _my_ trust, or they would still be suspicious of me since their test failed and attempt to enact another one. Either way, mystery solved. There wasn't some mysterious third party attempting to kidnap me, like I had first assumed. It was kind of sad that my first thought was abduction nowadays, but hey, that's my life.

I eyed the fridge as I walked in the door before deciding against it, falling straight into bed once I reached my room, not bothering to take off my boots. I'd earned the sleep today.

The next day I went to work as usual, bringing coffee in and doing my work, but I remained quiet. I wanted to see what they're next move was. After a while it became apparent that their next move was to wait for _my_ next move. Well, I wasn't going to give them anything to work with. I remained quiet, speaking when spoken to, and doing the work that was asked of me. Several days actually passed like this, and I refrained from reporting to the guys at Eastern Headquarters. I had done this before whenever the timing was inconvenient or there simply wasn't enough to send in. This time I was simply putting it off to give them more time to make the first move. I wasn't going to be able to wait too long, I was on a deadline after all, but a few weeks wouldn't set me back too far.

It actually took three weeks of meek behavior and radio silence for someone to snap. My home phone rang, and for the first time in almost a month I thought about answering it. I stared at it from where I had been searching the refrigerator, considering it for several seconds before closing the door and picking up the receiver.

"Arcaro."

"Stephanie, are you okay?"  
I relaxed when I heard Fuery's voice, close to 100% positive that _he_ wouldn't have any ulterior motives for calling.

"I'm fine. Is everything alright? You sound off."

He snorted derisively,

"Of course I sound 'off', I've been worried sick! You disappear off the grid for almost a month, not calling anyone, no letters, nothing! I had to convince the Lieutenant Colonel to call your superior officer and inquire if you'd been to work lately. I thought you'd disappeared! What the heck happened? Did you just forget about all of us for three _weeks_?!"

I could hear someone else in the background, probably Breda, Fallman, or Jean. Perhaps even all three.

I sighed,

"I, well, I didn't mean to just drop off the grid, okay? I'm sorry for that. But I just...I couldn't. I couldn't deal with things so I shut down for a while. I've been feeling better though, honest. I was actually planning on calling soon, to check up on you."

He humphed,

"Sure you were. And that's why you never answered any of my calls until now? Even the three that were made yesterday?"  
"Hey now, I can't tell who's calling and I owe money to this old Drachman lady."

Fuery sighed,

"Whatever. What could have been so bad that you shut everyone out?"  
I paused.

"Someone I trusted hurt me, betrayed me in a way. I was used to it for so long, but then I didn't expect it anymore so it hurt worse. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

There was silence from the other end for a long while and I wondered if the others had heard me. Finally Fuery spoke, voice softer than before.

"Do you want to talk about it?"  
"Ha, not particularly. It's not completely my business to be sharing with people. I would hate to make someone angry by spreading things that could very well die a quiet death existing only in my brain and theirs. But thank you for worrying, I forget sometimes that people care about me. It's nice to be reminded."

I pointed my sonic at the timer on the stove, a sound effect that Fuery was well acquainted with, unlike Roy, and set the thing to ding rather loudly.

"If you'll excuse me, that would be dinner. I'll call again another day, alright?"

"Is there any chance you'll forgive them?"

It was Jean's voice now. Had I not known how close Roy and Jean were from my experience in the other dimension then I would have thought it was curiosity causing him to speak. But I knew better. He was in on it. Not that it mattered to me, I had never really believed that there was a 'Tatooine' for me to return to, it's just the principle of it, that they would trick me in such a way.

I sighed loudly,

"I think I already have. Good night, Havoc."  
I hung up the phone, rolling my eyes. I really had been planning on calling soon. The package of information I'd sent to Roy should be arriving any day now. He'd probably get it in the morning, proving what I had told Jean to be correct. I looked over at the empty stove and frowned. There wasn't actually food for me to eat. I gave in and ate ice cream straight out of the tub, telling myself that I'd earned it with my workout from earlier in the day.

While I worked my way through the entire tub I schemed. My network was picking up in Central, and I almost had someone trained far enough that they could be entrusted with spreading the network to other cities, namely Leore and Dublith. But that would take a bit of work, to get it that far. They would have to go on foot, seemingly 'wandering' and 'homeless', just happening to end up in those cities. Even afterwards, when it was revealed that it was indeed a network (if it ever had to be revealed completely) I didn't want there to be any holes, I didn't need people pointing fingers and figuring out that I had known all along. Well, people other than Edward and Alphonse. As it was, I was supposed to have a degree of uncertainty because of the dimensional differences.

I planned until I could feel a headache coming on, and then I took a long shower before falling into bed, once again contemplating getting a dog.

 **Brightstar4266: Not dead :)**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	21. Chapter 21

From then on it was business as usual. I made my usual calls to Jean, sent mail to Roy, and called him about the big things, leaving out any mention of the little test he'd tried to do. So it was likely a major surprise when I showed up in his office. Then again, that could also have been because I entered through the window.

The door to the main office was open and everyone was gathered around Fuery's desk to grab a donut when I waltzed in, Jean cutting off abruptly when he saw me. I waved when they looked to see what had caused his sudden silence, cheshire grin on my face and pointing to Edward Elric, who had miraculously been here when I needed him.

"You! Care to help me with a heist?"  
He spluttered, his brother nowhere to be seen, most likely off around the town while Edward reported in.

"What do you mean a _heist_?!"

I rolled my eyes, hoisting my way to sitting on the edge of Breda's abandoned desk.

"You know, the whole 'dress up in ski masks while we go sneaky sneaky somewhere we shouldn't be'. It'll be very 'Robin Hood' of us, steal from the criminally rich and corrupt to give to the poor."

Roy and the rest of his team were looking at me as if they weren't really sure what to make of my sudden appearance, Fuery finally giving a belated wave. I returned it,

"Hello by the way, long time no see. Oh, almost forgot."  
I reached into my inside coat pocket, pulling out a manilla envelope from a pocket it very obviously shouldn't be able to fit in and tossing it to Breda.

"You sure know how to pick 'em. He's committed many crimes, just not the one you pegged him for this time."  
Breda pulled out the papers, scowling.

"Damnit, I thought I had this one in the bag, too."  
I shrugged, "Personally I always suspect the wife first then move from there."  
Edward spluttered, bringing my eyes back to him.

"Don't change the subject, you want me to help you _rob_ someone?"  
I snorted, "Well, he's not a very _good_ someone."

Before Edward could protest again I held up a hand,

"He's a very not good someone, actually. The 'kidnap small children and kill' kind of bad. I think."  
Edwards mouth closed slowly, and after a second he motioned for me to continue. I did so, trying to hide the triumph.

"Aleksander Kross, comes from old money. Thing is, he's clever. He runs a private boarding school, keeps his research in a vault, and his illegally gotten funds in a completely different vault. Both of said vaults are Espen 3100's, though, so they're going to be weak to drilling at the very least. Parents were complaining about how the children aren't allowed to mail home, policy says that it distracts them from their education. By my count 37 of those children are already dead."

Roy sighed, rubbing his forehead for a second.

"How'd you come by this information?"  
I glanced over at him before looking away, fixing my eyes on the door to the hallway instead.

"One of my network is a teenager, got in on academic scholarship. He kept contacting me the usual way and starting reporting strange things, screams in the night, doors they aren't allowed to open, stairways that are cordoned off, entire wings being forbidden on some nights after the screaming was particularly bad. There's the rumor that the place is _haunted_ , but he didn't buy that bullshit. After sticking his nose into places where it didn't belong he was able to see some things...I told him to leave but he refused. I have no legal right to withdraw him from the school so I started gathering the evidence he sent me to shut it all down nice and legal. But he dropped off the grid. Naturally if he's dead then I'm going to relocate the children and burn the place to the ground. But if he's alive then I'm going to get him out, take the research and all of his funding, and get out before they realize something's wrong. I plan to still do things the legal way, but taking the money is just insurance that he can't leave and start over while I get the case together."

Edward was slightly pale,

"What, did you plan to disguise me as a student and slip me in?"  
He looked like he was taking to the plan and trying to come to terms with it so I shut him down quickly.

"Ah, no. I just thought having an extra pair of hands would be useful, especially an alchemist seeing as I'm going after alchemic research. But if you don't have the time then whatever, I'm sure I can manage. Not my first cat burglary, actually."

It was just always so nerve wracking to not have anyone watching my back for shit like this, though the adrenaline rush was _wicked_.

I brushed some lint off my coat,

"Officially I'm taking a well deserved week of vacation time." I glanced up to meet Edward's eyes, "But realistically it should only take about two days total, including travel time, set-up, and the actual heist."

Jean waved his hands in the air,

"Am I the only one wondering about when she's had to rob someone before?"  
There was really no answer but to shrug,

"Erm, in my defense I only snuck in to set it on fire."  
Jean facepalmed, Fuery rolling his eyes to the heavens and muttering,

"What is it with you and setting things on fire?"  
I scowled, pointing to the both of them,

"I'm feeling the judgey from over here, cut it out. Besides, setting an office on fire brings police running, the police investigate, and if they so happen to find evidence that the guy was involved in the drug trade then what a coinkydink."  
Edward made a face,

"Huh, I'll have to keep that one in mind."  
"Just be sure to make it look like an electrical fire, otherwise they suspect that whoever set the fire planted the information."  
Breda raised his hand, as if in a classroom,

"Are we going to ignore the fact that these two don't seem to know the meaning of the word 'illegal'?"

We both turned to him at the same time, with the exact same deadpan expression in place until he squirmed. Finally I looked away, sliding off the desk, heavy boots thudding dully against the carpet.

"Well, that was really all the time I had scheduled to use here, if I want my man back alive I need to hurry. You coming or not, goldylocks?"  
His face scrunched up as he thought,

"I would, trust me I want to, but I promised Al that we would look into the mining situation on the Western border."

"Obelkos?"  
His head whipped around to look at me again, suspicious now.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"  
"My sources near there said that the mines are about to kick the bucket because lax technique and stupidity. Also something about the mayor embezzling so much that the miners aren't getting payed enough for their families to survive off of. Your project is a noble one, I suppose, good luck. If you get stuck ask around for Henry, they'll know who you mean. Tell him I sent you and he should feed you."  
Edward whipped out a notebook, scribbling it down,

"Food you say? Hmmm…."

I rolled my eyes, turning back to the office,

"If that's all then I'll be leaving then."

Jean scoffed, hands on his hips.

"What, not going to invite us along on your little adventure?"

I turned to him slowly, expression disbelieving.

"Surely you have better things to do than run in the middle of the week and rob some rich guy blind?"  
He dived for his desk, rummaging through the paperwork and pulling out a particular sheet, scribbling on it for a few seconds before signing with a flourish. He shoved his things in a black duffle bag he pulled out of his desk before shoving the paper into Roy's chest, grinning all the while.

"Are you kidding, this sounds brilliant! I'm taking the week off too, let's go steal shit!"  
I snorted, shaking my head at him before pointing to the door to the hall.

"Better go out the normal way then."

Fuery called after us,

"Wait!"

There was a crash, the sound of paper flying everywhere, a dull thud, Roy squawking, and then Fuery was following us, his own duffle bag in hand and grinning.

"You'll need a tech guy to coordinate, right?"

Roy stuck his head out the door, checking to make sure the hallway was empty before hissing at me,

"So you just pop in, through a window on the _second floor_ to steal all my men and run off to have an adventure? Well I won't have it! No adventure."

The door shut and after three solid seconds it opened again, everyone, including Roy, carrying duffel bags.

"Not without me."

I gaped at the entourage I'd gathered for a minute before grinning maniacally,

"Oh, this is going to be one for the history books, boys."

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	22. Chapter 22

I convinced them to let me leave out the window like I had arrived, activating the chameleon transmutation circle once I was out of their line of sight and clambering down the drain pipes. They left in shifts, with Roy hanging around the longest to get the paperwork in order. We all met again at the train station, with Roy complaining the moment he saw us.

"Do you have any idea how much paperwork it takes to convince people that the entire office caught a bug all at once?"  
It wasn't actually all that unusual for an entire office to clear out because of an illness, they did work amazingly close together, afterall. But the resulting forms that needed to be filled out _were_ a bitch.

"If it's any consolation you'll be reimbursed for your troubles. Once the evidence about Kross comes out it will most likely implicate most of the upper levels in Southern Command, who no doubt took bribes to look the other were or were actively involved with it all. The contingencies put in place by Central Command say that the higher ups in Eastern are shuffled to fix Southern if too many of them are suddenly removed from power, leaving someone like yourself to move up in Eastern itself."

He turned to me sharply, eyebrow raised,

"And how would you know about these contingencies?"  
I copied his expression mockingly,

"All I _know_ is that it's amusing how they think a simple cylinder lock is going to fucking keep anyone out. All they do is tell me that something interesting is likely to be on the other side."  
We had all changed into plain clothes before meeting back at the station, casually disguised from any in Eastern who might recognize us. I shelled out the extra cash to get us a private compartment, keeping an eye on the pulse to make sure no one was listening in. It was booth style seating, two long benches covered in soft cushions and facing one another with a large table in the middle. I dropped my bag, recently recovered from the bushes outside Eastern Command, and fished out several sheets of paper, placing them on the table and grinning up at the crowd gathered around it.

"Let's plan a heist then."

The earpiece crackled in my ear, Jean's heavy breathing and colorful cursing following shortly afterwards.

"You know what Glinda, next time _you_ get to take the sewer entrance."  
I pressed a finger to the microphone button, completing the circuit and activating it.

" _You_ were the one who wanted to steal the currency and shiny things. But fair enough, if we ever have to do something like this again I'll take the unsavory entrance, happy?"  
"...not really. I don't think this smell is ever going to leave me. Hey, Riza, hold this for a second, would ya?"

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to inform him he'd left his mike on, _again_ , and that he had forgotten to use the codename for Riza, _again_. We were divided into teams of two, which had taken a lot of arguing on my part, and I'd still lost. I'd wanted Riza to have an eye in the sky from the belltower of the church nearby with a rifle, ready to save our asses if we had to make a run for it, but seeing as she was the one other person in our group capable of cracking open a safe she needed to be on one of the infiltration teams. There needed to be one safe cracker and one guy with a gun to guard the door and help with any heavy lifting or escape, should it be necessary. This policy was insisted on when I had tried to convince them I could handle my safe on my own. So Fuery would be in the getaway van coordinating all of us and watching over the tech, including the short range radio and video transmitters that he and I had built and got Fallman to plant in key areas on a tour of the school under the guise of a job interview. No one had asked where I'd gotten the false papers from at such short notice, which is good because I'd used alchemy to bullshit it in all of three seconds. Due to the number of screens that needed to be watched and audio monitored Fallman joined Breda and Fuery in the control center.

I had assumed that Roy would accompany Riza, just on principle and was more than a little surprised when writing down teams that he'd paired himself with me. In explanation he had shrugged,

"You're going after alchemic research, makes sense to take a state alchemist along in case there are any alchemic traps guarding it."  
I had shifted nervously, not wanting to break up the Roy/Riza ultimate duo.

"You are aware that I've studied enough alchemy to know how to _not_ blow myself up, right?"  
He bobbed his head, not looking up from the route we'd agreed on, fishing in a plastic bag for a potato chip.

"I had figured you would dabble in it a bit, seems like something you'd make a Saturday night hobby out of."  
I muttered under my breath "What the hell does that mean?"  
There was an immediate anime flail and apology but I just waved it off without bothering to look up,

"No, no, you're right, I'm just wondering what it says about me, is all."  
So Riza had Jean to watch over her and I had the mighty Flame Alchemist. I'll admit that I felt a bit better about it all with him of all people at my back. I'd never quite forgotten that he was the one who dragged me out of that hellhole in Anarbor, that I still associate him with 'safety'. More than a bit dangerous now that he wasn't the same Roy anymore.

It had been only thirty minutes after the children were forced back to their rooms because of curfew and we were almost in place. I'd managed to hunt down the floor plans for the manor-turned-academy and planned our routes accordingly. Riza and Jean were taking a straight shot to the money-and-valuables safe set in the basement by using the sewer systems and a fancy bit of trickery involving mirrors that Jean assured me he understood and could pull off.

Roy and I had to take a window on the third floor if we were going to avoid most of the 'teachers' patrolling the halls and keeping students in bed. When Roy had questioned how we were going to get up there I'd told him to trust me, and now the time was there to actually come up with a plan. We had exited the van, taking a looping route through the woods surrounding the manor and coming out on the side we needed. I stopped just inside the treeline, motioning for Roy to do the same, touching one finger to my earpiece,

"Kate, you copy?"  
Static followed for a second before Fuery responded, "Loud and clear, Glinda."

I still hated/loved that I was the Good Witch of the South.

"Excellent, how are we doing on camera's three, seven, and fourteen?"  
"...erm, you're clear, the bear is in his den and the mice are in their holes. _How_ do you remember what each camera is for?"  
"Excellent memory, Katie, eat your leafy greens and you'll be the same."

Jean snorted through the microphone,

"Like you've ever eaten a leafy green in your life, I've seen you eat. Soda, soup, and Xingese noodle take out. It's a wonder we didn't have to roll you here."  
I facepalmed, breathing deeply,

"Jacqueline, please the lines clean of personal commentary and free for business."

"Whatever, _Glenda_."

I let go of the microphone part for a second, breathing for a few more seconds before pressing once more,

"Alright then, Jacqueline, Elizabeth, are you in position?"  
When I got two answering 'yes's in return I let out a breath,

"Then let's move."

I let go of the microphone again, glancing at Roy and then back to the building.

"Wait here, I'll tell you when it's clear to join me."

Without giving him time to protest I set off at a run, keeping close to the ground and moving in a zig-zagging pattern, following the wind and the way the grass was sweeping. All of us were in varying shades of black and grey to blend in with the shadows, mine being black tights with a long black underarmor shirt over it, long sleeve to keep my pale skin and paler scars from reflecting any sort of light. I had a gun strapped to my side with a rather fancy holster that Riza had loaned me for the night, and I also had on lightweight cloth boots rather than my military ones, the sole transmuted to not have a trackable pattern. I had also made a small bag to keep around my waist, resting on my back left side much like a shinobi equipment pouch from Naruto, with mine being bigger on the inside of course. Roy had put on black combat pants and a similar shirt, keeping his hands tucked away to hide the shine of his white flame gloves while we were out in the moonlight.

I reached the building swiftly and unseen, leaping upward and grasping onto the jagged stone. My gloves left my fingers free to grip onto the stone and haul myself up, small feet fitting into minute niches and crevices. It still took almost a minute and a half to slither my way up the uneven blocks and rest among the gargoyles. I tested the strength of it with my feet, bracing my back against another one of them. Not a hint of movement. I took a rope out of the equipment pouch, tieing it off securely around the gargoyle, checking through the pulse that no one was near us before touching my microphone,

"Rowan, do you see the rope?"  
There was a hiss of static once again and I made a mental note to revamp the design of these things when I found the time.

"Indeed I do, Glenda dear, that was some rather impressive cat burglary work right there. Sure you've only done it once?"  
"Not you too, just climb up the rope and join me, would you?"

The window nearby my little ledge required only a little bit of oomph and some tinkering with a long piece of wire to undo the latch and get it open. By the time it was ready Roy was at the rope and starting to climb, making his way up it quicker than I had thought possible. He would have kicked ass in gym.

When he made it up to the ledge it was barely wide enough to accommodate him, leaving no room to maneuver. Meaning I had to squeeze half my upper body past him to untie the rope. I fumbled with it for half a second before I got the knots undone and then coiled it back up, his breathing harsh in my ear as I tried to move quickly, returning it to the equipment pouch. He didn't comment that the rope was obviously too big for the bag, most likely his brain skirted the observation, most people did. I finally moved away from him, giving an inaudible sigh of relief as I slid the window open and slipped silently inside. I stepped out of the way to allow Roy to swing in after me, closing the window once he was fully through. I had already examined the room, a classroom, filled with desks all facing a wall of chalkboards to our right. I whistled lowly, taking an involuntary step closer to the boards.

"Jesus would you look at that calculus, these poor souls, and the semester has only just started. It would seem this place really is accommodated to be an actual school if they can give up to this level of instruction."

Assuming that they were actually teaching what was on the board, then this was useful information. I filed it away for later as I made my way to the classroom door, only to be stopped by a rather heavy hand on my shoulder.

"Let's let the guy with the gun go first, shall we?"  
I scowled but stepped back,

"I have a gun too, you know."

"Can you set everything on fire in one movement?"  
"It's not like you can use it on a whim, what with it being universally linked with your name and all that."  
"I'm here to be a guard, let me guard!"

This whispered conversation was interrupted by the beam of a flashlight, we ducked down, sitting on the floor with our backs to the door. Once the 'teacher' had gone past we stood and I waited for their light in the pulse to get far enough away for comfort before opening the door and motioning him forwards.

"Alright then, lead the way."  
He stepped out first, leading the way silently, slipping down the hallway. We passed three more classrooms before coming to the end of the hall, where the building plans had shown a room fitted with a vault. All we could see was blank wall wedged in between two pillars that weren't on the floor plans. Roy let out a hissed curse, glancing around us,

"We'll have to search the entire floor or get out and try again later."  
I shook my head, stepping closer to the wall, running my hands along it gently,

"No, it's tonight or not at all. Once the money is gone they're going to panic, we have to get _everything_ that we need out of here before that happens. They _cannot_ have the funds to get away, but I'm sure they'll find some way to disappear despite it."

I closed my eyes to focus better on touch, tapping gently with my nails. Solid, solid, solid, hollow. The differing sound caught Roy's attention as well, and he raised an eyebrow at me, an action I barely saw in the gloom. Now that I had proof that the room we needed really _was_ through here I just needed to find a way through. I stepped back, turning in a slow circle, taking everything in and examining it depth. Well, so long as I was living a spy movie I might as well try it.

I grabbed one of the wooden chairs set out in the hall, most likely for students who couldn't be kept in class because of rowdy behavior, and set it down as quietly as possible, climbing onto it and putting one foot on each of the arm as carefully as I could. I took a screwdriver, the non-sonic kind, and got to work removing the vent cover. Like in all large building the vent itself was large to allow for more airflow. Nothing near the size needed for someone like Roy to dream of fitting through, but for Edward, or me, it was a bit of a squeeze, but doable. I handed the vent cover to Roy, who was watching me in disbelief but held it anyway.

"In the vents the sound will likely echo so I won't be using the comms for a little bit, but once I get in the room I'll let you know how to get in from the outside and you can replace the grate, deal?"  
I then handed him the screwdriver as well, grasping the bottom edge of the vent and levering myself upwards and inside, starting to worm my way forwards, bringing up the mental image I had of the floor plans. I _should_ need to take a right at some point. I had to first go down for a bit, then over diagonally, then upwards once more. I prayed that Roy hadn't run into trouble while I was wandering around in here. I finally found the right vent, clapping my hands and dissolving the screws, using another transmutation to put them back into place exactly as they had been. I kept still for several seconds after that to be sure that the sound or light hadn't attracted attention while simultaneously feeling through the pulse.

From there I examined the room, the safe wasn't in plain sight, but I hadn't expected that it would be. There were shelves and books lying around, but none of it was what we had come for. I finally found the door, or rather a handle. It was set in an odd sort of reverse column, meaning the pillar on the other side opened. Neat. We probably could have used alchemy to just _make_ a door, but at the time it hadn't been worth the risk of finding the boiler or something with a stray alchemic spark, or being seen.

I pressed the microphone button,

"Door opening, don't flip your lid Rowan." With that I pushed outwards, opening the pillar/door to find Roy staring at me, looking rather surprised at where the door ended up being. The vent was already replaced, confident that I wouldn't have to come back that way I suppose, and he handed me the screwdriver, which I returned to my pouch. The headsets crackled and we both froze, Jean's strained voice filtering through.

"Kate? How are we looking at camera….wherever the hell is right next door to me?"  
"...freeze." Fuery's voice was strained, dragging the atmosphere down several notches.

I glanced at Roy and we exchanged a look, communicating silently that in half a heartbeat we would drop everything to haul Jean's ass out of trouble. Good, we were agreed. But there was more static and Fuery sighed,

"Okay, you guys are good now."

We unfroze, starting to look around the room now that the danger had passed. I poked around, feeling shelves and pulling books halfway out before putting them back. Roy sighed from behind me,

" _What_ are you doing?"  
I glanced back at him, grinning.

"What, have you never seen a cartoon? If you're rich and don't have a rotating bookcase triggered by a certain book then you need to give me those millions because you are obviously using them wrong."

He snorted before going back to searching,

"I don't know what kind of cartoons you had back in your country but such ideas would never make it on air here."  
I hesitated before grabbing the next book,

"Well then, once someone more competent is in charge I'll have to sell the script for millions and have my own rotating bookshelf."

I frowned at the lot of it, crossing my arms and tapping my foot, searching my mind palace before alighting on something from NCIS.

"Hey hot head, mind making a small flame? Smoke included please."

He stared at me for a second, questioning my sanity before complying, used to it now apparently. He snapped his fingers, the small light lingering in the air above his gloves and giving off curls of grey vapor. I wrapped my fingers around his wrist, dragging the flame close to the walls, letting the smoke bounce off the edges and filter upwards. Roy groaned,

"What are you doing?"  
"If there is a secret room within our secret room then it won't be airtight, obviously, because they wouldn't be able to breathe when in there. Therefore, the door will have gaps, no matter how small, around the edges...ah! Here it is!"  
The smoke slipped into the edges between two bookcases that appeared to be built together like all the others. I grinned up at Roy who was looking slightly stricken. I scowled,  
"I do have some good ideas, you know. Come on, help me move this."  
I'd already moved all the books on that shelf, so I knew it wasn't triggered like that, so we slipped our fingers in the small gap, levering it open and Roy pushing it to the side. I sighed,

"We weren't paying enough attention, see how the carpet is permanently ruffled from moving it back and forth. Tsk, amueture. Maybe we didn't have enough coffee."  
Roy snorted as he reached for the knob on the dark stained door that had been revealed,

"Are you kidding, we won't sleep for another three weeks as it is."

He led the way in, flame still present at his fingertips, lighting the way in front of us. It was a rather small room, more like a rather large closet, really. There was a metal desk off to the side covered in papers and various office supplies with the safe taking up most of the rest of the space. I whistled,

"That is one badass safe."  
"Can you get in?"  
I scoffed, reaching into my little back for a stethoscope.

"Please. Gimme five minutes and we'll be nope-ing the fuck out of here."  
I adjusted the equipment while Roy muttered to himself, going through the papers left out on the desk for anything interesting. When his back was turned I started humming, low notes that were barely audible but still activated the circle sharpied onto my stomach. Blue light danced under my shirt and used the stethoscope as a medium to flow into the safe itself and out of sight, turning tumblers and wreaking havoc. I held the dial loosely while it spun of it's own accord, pulling when I heard the final click, stuffing the stethoscope away.

"Well Mister State Alchemist, wanna take a look at all this?"  
He dropped the papers he was holding, rushing to my side,

"Already?"  
"Yes already, here, look through these and shove em in the bag when you're done."  
I shoved a few journals into his hands, parsing through the one's I was holding. A quick trip to the sunroom in my mind palace and the rather pitiful code was cracked.

"Letter replacement, M and W are the same but everything else is moved three to the right in the alphabet."  
"...Ah, I see it now."  
Things like that still tripped me up. I was speaking Amestrian, but referencing the English Alphabet, but my message still got across. Fucking weird.

I was humming to myself while going through the notes, stopping dead on one page. They were dreadfully, horribly close to successful human transmutation. Well, successful in the way that it would open the gate, not that they would get what they wanted out of the deal...but it was looking like what they wanted was information. Like a certain Nazi woman with a crystal skull who 'just wanted to know'.

Blood samples, rudimentary testing, several different punnett squares, they had gotten awfully far while going about it from completely the wrong direction, with every mistake made somehow canceling out a different mistake, leading them on a winding, rather long path that still ended up in the correct place. A thought hit me and I snapped the several journals shut, tossing them and the papers into the bag, motioning for Roy to do the same.

"Wha-hey, we aren't done yet, we still don't know what's going on!"  
"Speak for yourself, I think you picked the wrong journal is all. Human transmutation."

He stiffened and I continued,

"They're close, but they've made a lot of turns and ended up taking the scenic route. They think they're about at the answer...and technically they are, but the answer has been there, they've just decided to make it more complicated than it is."

"And how would _you_ know anything about human transmutation?"  
"We all have our secrets dear Lieutenant Colonel. Come on, they think the secret to the 'sacrifices' to fulfil the circle is in DNA and certain genetic traits. Very Nazi now that I think of it, more so than I had first thought."  
"What? Are we even speaking the same language?"  
I huffed, stuffing more journals into the bag, shutting the safe door after Roy had grabbed the last few, swinging the now full bag onto my back.

"Of course we are, but there's no time to explain. They test the kid's blood, likely on the grounds that they're testing their health, or even of experiments in science classes. They test for certain traits, and when they find them they sacrifice the ones they think are closest to whatever the hell their formula is. They think the key to fully activating the circle and getting to the knowledge of everything beyond that is located in the blood of the one they're sacrificing. They're wrong, it's in the circle itself and the strength in the alchemist but they're going to succeed soon enough if they keep on this track for another, oh, eight years. But that won't' stop them from sacrificing more children."

He stopped moving towards the door, not turning to face me.

"When you say sacrifice-"

I lost my temper slightly,

"Mustang, now is not the time. But yes, I mean the summoning of the Gate."  
"You know of the gate then."  
I pushed his back gently to get him moving.

"I've seen it."  
I dropped my voice lower, giving it a harsher quality than he was used to.

"Did you know that it was possible to force someone to open the gate? To force them through? I didn't at first either. Now are we going to move along now and save the lives of children or are you going to doubt me _now_ of all times?"  
He hesitated for the briefest of seconds before I saw him nod and push the pillar open gently,

"This isn't over."  
I rolled my eyes, pushing him out into the hallway, feeling that no one was near us.

"It never is. Dungeon's this way."

I wasn't worried about him judging me for committing a taboo, he'd forgiven Edward and Alphonse quickly enough. I conveniently ignored the fact that they'd been damaged and rather young children at the time, doing it for noble and understandable reasons.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	23. Chapter 23

I let Roy lead the way to the 'dungeons' amusedly pointing out when we were about to take a wrong turn. He played it off rather well, and we ended up in around the area we had determined Reuben would be in. I opened myself more to the pulse, relying on Roy to keep me from running into a wall or off a random cliff. When I found the familiar teens signature I tapped Roy on the shoulder, steering him through the halls, tapping on the cell doors at random until one of the doors tapped back. I tried to stand on the tip of my toes to peer through the small barred window but just heard Roy snorting at me for my efforts I rolled my eyes, hissing,

"Reuben?"

There was some shuffling and dark fluffy hair appeared in my vision.

"Miss Arcaro?"  
He sounded completely confused, and slightly faint, continuing on in a near inaudible voice.

"I thought they hadn't drugged me yet but here it is, the delusions. God save me."  
I kicked the door lightly, pulling a simple set of lockpicks out of my bag,

"Oh, shut up kid, I'm busting you out. Sit tight, we'll be blowing this taco stand in T minus ten."  
He hummed,

"Whatever you say fairy lady."  
Roy snorted again, covering it up with a near silent cough. I focused my senses onto the lockpicking, pulling in from the pulse, which is why I missed the sound of approaching footsteps. Roy grabbed me, pulling me tight against him and stepping into the shadows, into the doorway of an open cell, breathing shallowly and shh-ing me slightly. I stilled, trying not to be too aware of who was behind me and attempting to focus on the guard that was meandering by. They peered into the cell beside us to check on the prisoners, Reuben thankfully staying silent about drugs and fairies. The guard left after several long seconds. A few seconds after that Roy's hold lessoned and his breathing deepened, legs straightening and sighing.

"Jeez that was close."

I made an irritated noise deep in my throat and he released my face quickly, unwinding his other arm just as rapidly.

"Sorry about that."  
"Nah, thanks. I wasn't paying attention."

"Well, it's my job here."

I moved forwards to pick the lock, trying to break the awkward moment, swinging the door open to reveal three forms in the dark. I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"I was hoping they wouldn't have anyone else set for tonight."  
Roy peered into the cell,

"What do you mean?"  
"These three are the one's set for transmutation. Tonight. We'll have to take all three, which means we _probably_ can't go out the way we came in."  
I slipped further into the cell, stepping close to one of the kids, a small boy who was clutching his right arm and sniffling. I touched his shoulder lightly, shushing him when he flinched,

"Sh, it's okay, it's okay, I'm...Glinda, I'm here to get you home, okay?"  
"...are you an angel?"  
"Sure, sort of. I'm your guardian, here to swoop in and take you home."

I took a step back, pushing Reuben towards the two boys,

"Get them ready to travel, I need to plan logistics."

When I met Roy's eyes he snorted,

"You, an angel?"  
"Satan himself was the most loyal of angels, right before he fell."

With that I turned slightly away, pressing the button on the microphone,

"Kate, how are we on escape routes _other_ than cat burglar?"  
There was buzzing silence before a sigh filtered through.

"Not good, I'm afraid, all of the upper floors are swarmed, and the first floor is worse. The basement level is crawling near Elizabeth and Jacqueline. Sorry guys. I don't know what has them stirred up, maybe it's just in their rotations. They're especially active on the fourth floor, though."  
I groaned,

"Thanks Katie, I'll figure it out." I released the button, scowling.

"That will be the lab floor, they're getting ready for the transmutation. Damnit! I guess we will have to go out the way we came. Sort of. Are you up to carrying one of the kids?"  
We got the hurt child situated in Roy's arms, with a gun in one hand, the child's hand in the other. Rueben was given Roy's gun and told to guard our backs. He was lucid enough, not actually having been drugged yet. His darker skin kept him hidden in the gloom, same story with his hair. I led the way, up a floor, avoiding patrols and random people wandering about by use of the Dragon's Pulse. No one thought to ask me how I knew when to duck into an empty room. Probably assumed I had hella awesome hearing. We finally reached the third floor, proceeding to the end nearest the forest we'd entered through. It was mostly dead near here and I decided to chance it, ushering everyone into one of the classrooms, shutting the door silently behind us and levering open a window,

"Everyone wait here, let me get this set up."

I tied the rope to the gargoyle, just like earlier that night, before slipping back inside and pointing to Roy.

"Rowan, hand the kid to Rueben. You're going down first."  
"What? No, I-"  
"-need to be at the bottom to catch people and make sure nothing happens on that end. One adult per party."  
He struggled with that for a second before giving in, taking his gun back from where Reuben had set it on a desk, slipping it into his waistband before slipping out the window, comm buzzing after a little bit.

"Alright, I'm in position."  
I took the least hurt child, leading him out carefully and leaving Reuben to watch out for the remaining child with my gun in easy reach. I rigged up a quick harness, cooing random words of encouragement into his ear the entire time.

"It's going to be alright, Mister Rowan is going to catch you at the bottom and then we'll get you home, okay?"  
I have to be honest, the kids were brave. This could have gone a hell of a lot differently if they'd complained about fear or thrown fits. Then again, they'd been shoved in that cell for who knows how long and most likely treated like lab rats right before. I lowered him down gently, arms protesting most of the time, but powering through it. I waited while Roy untied the kid, pulling the rope back up once he tugged it twice. I went back into the classroom, repeating the same process with the other child, and with Reuben as well. It was as I was untying the rope to descend myself that it all went to shit. I heard the door to the classroom open behind me and shoved the rope into my bag, swinging down to cling to the bottom of the stone ledge, fingers starting to complain almost immediately. There were footsteps and a light shone out the still open window. There were several moments of tense silence where I could feel my fingers starting to bleed before the man started grumbling about stupid kids. It was then, at the most inopportune moment, that my comm buzzed, Jean's voice coming through.

"Almost to the extraction point, hope team B is as timely as we are, it looks like things are starting to go down in there."

There was static and I just knew that others were going to answer. The sound was quiet, an indistinct murmur, but the man still froze. I felt the hum as it prepared to transmit more sound and applied more force to the feet wedged against the underside of the gargoyle and one of my hands clutching the stone, leaving the other free to pluck out the earpiece and crush it, not having the time to look for an off switch, shoving the remains into a pocket and grasping back onto the stone. There was silence and I held my breath, eyes closed and praying feverently. After a very long period of time the man sighed, slamming the window shut and retreating back. It was when I heard the classroom door shut and his life signature retreated that I let my breath out and proceeded down to the ground, fingers aching before I circulated some qi to dull the pain so I could shove it out of my mind.

I helped Roy herd the kids to the tree line, shuffling them around and making our way to the van. We loaded them into the back, staying silent and waving away any questions they might have. Roy jumped into the front seat where Riza was already throwing us out of park, ready to get the hell out of here.

"We need to move, they're going to notice something's wrong rather soon and I don't want to be anywhere near when that happens."

Reuben piped up,

"I have a house, in the next town over, used to be my Grandmother's. It's somewhere we can hide, no one will think to look for us there."

I motioned him forwards,

"Give Elizabeth directions then. Better than our other plan."  
Fuery snorted,

"We had _another_ plan?"  
I scowled weakly, still exhausted from my latest close encounter. My limbs ached and my fingers were throbbing again. I stuffed my hands into my pockets, leaning against the side of the van and just closing my eyes, letting the trip pass by in a blur of sound while I tried to sort all of the information I'd collected on this little escapade.

When we had come to a stop Fuery whispered to someone,

"Should we wake her?"  
I took a deep breath in before sighing,

"Not asleep."

I snapped my eyes open and rolling to my feet, scooping up the smallest child into my arms easily, being sure not to wake him. I hadn't had time to stop and learn his name, or the other kid's. Either way, they needed somewhere to lie low until I could topple this idiot from power, and hopefully everyone that supported him.

I let Reuben lead the way, leaving the kids with a rather flustered Jean and an amused Breda while I changed the sheets from the mothball smelling musty things to something I'd found in the linen closet and transmuted clean when no one was looking. I fished out some pillows and blankets, doing the same to them. I settled the kids down in a bedroom that had two twin beds in it that Reuben informed me in a whisper was from when his cousins had lived with their Grandmother still. He didn't offer any information about what happened to them, but his expression made it obvious enough that the subject was off limits.

When I had gotten that done I wandered back out into the main room, plopping the research down next to the money Jean had recovered, fishing into the latter to grab plain cash, tossing a stack of it to Breda.  
"No one from the place saw you at any point in the operation. You good with getting us some major food and supplies when the hour is decent and the stores are open?"

He nodded, giving me a funny look.

"Sure, what am I supposed to tell them when I buy enough shit for an army?"  
"Family reunion. Only the best for Grandma Swanson, the grumpy old crone."  
I sunk down into an armchair, tossing my bag down next to the research and sighing, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. There was still a lot of stuff to process from what I'd seen in that place, but I was getting no time to do it properly. Someone crouched down near my and my eyes snapped open, automatically set to 'death glare'. It dropped a few settings when I saw it was Roy, holding several unidentifiable items.

"Can I help you?"  
He rolled his eyes, holding out a hand,

"You hurt yourself with that 'pretending to be a gargoyle' trick."

I took my hands out of my pockets, the quick alkehestry fix I'd done had probably worn off when I started ripping off bags and throwing around money. I hope there wasn't any blood on the cash, _that_ would be difficult to explain away. Roy went to take the gloves off and I pulled my hand back automatically. He gave me a look,

"Come on, I'm trying to help here."

I met his eyes and just stared for a long while before looking down and letting him take the gloves off. His fingers brushed against the silvery scars.

"I've never seen scarring like this. How did it happen?"  
I hesitated, well aware that everyone in the room was listening. I could beg off, claim that I didn't want to talk about it. But I'd already pulled the 'we all have secrets' card today. I swallowed thickly while he traced one of them with a gentle forefinger.

"A friend of mine asked me to look into a...sort of conspiracy high up within our government. I did, but I was much younger at the time and I got caught. So the higher ups ordered me on a mission elsewhere and snapped me up straight from the train, taking me to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere and asking me questions. When I refused to answer they started slicing."

Roy's motions froze, finger hovering over one of the scars.

"They-"

"-cut off my fingers. Getting them attached again properly was a real bitch and a half but I managed it after a while. Does that answer your question?"  
It wasn't a very subtle prod but he wrapped up the Q&A session, applying some salve to my fingers and bandaging them gently, not commenting on what he'd learned. Reuben was looking at me with wide eyes from the corner, I could feel it. But he either didn't have the nerve to ask or Riza's death glare at Roy for asking in the first place was enough to warn him away.

I looked to where Fuery was mostly collapsed on the couch, leaning against Breda but slightly tense from my little story time. I stood, plucking my gloves from the arm of the chair and shoving them in my pockets, tapping Fuery on the shoulder.

"Come on, there are other guest bedrooms around, let's get you into bed."

Reuben and I got everyone situated with a room assigned, grateful that dear Grandma had such a large place. After everyone was settled I sat down on the couch, facing the front door, gun laying on the coffee table in front of me, house silent. My mind wasn't stopping any time soon, I might as well keep watch if sleep wasn't happening.

I kept an eye on the pulse surrounding the house while I sorted out all of the new information. There were templates there, like someone had given them a base line and then made them proceed from there. Homunculi. In this world they were on the hunt for alchemists capable of human transmutation so that they could use them to make philosopher's stones. They were using the Academy as an alchemist factory. Or stone factory. Or a homunculus factory. My blood ran cold with the thought that they could be using the children from the transmutations to add to their un-dead army. But only successful transmutations create a homunculus, and even then it's only when they're trying to bring back the dead. These guys aren't bringing back the dead, just _creating_ more dead. So likely I was going to be in deep shit with homunculi should this get out. This meant that I wouldn't be able to shut them down legally in the manner that I had hoped. Shit, recalculation of plans, _again_.

I was debating getting out the notes and going over all of them when I felt a blip in the pulse, someone approaching, but from the inside rather than the outside. I waited until they spoke, hovering in the doorway for several minutes.

"You should sleep you know."

I glanced over at Roy, mentally remarking at how unfair that bedhead was before shrugging.

"Can't sleep, might as well keep watch and plot."  
He stood up straight, moving around the couch to sit on the cushion beside me.

"Plot? I thought we already had the next part hashed out."  
I rubbed a hand over my face, feeling the exhaustion in my bones, but knowing it wasn't safe for my mental state to fall asleep right now, too much turmoil up there.

"We did, but new things have popped up."  
"Like what? The kids? Surely they can just stay put until the Academy is shut down."  
"Not just them. Did you notice, in the notes, they all had the same starting point, all of the trials. They were given the information to work from by someone who already knew what the hell they were doing. There's another factor in this that we don't know about."  
"Ah."  
I snorted,

"Yeah, 'ah'. We don't want to tangle with these guys, for obvious reasons, so we have to be sure not to be implicated in any way whatsoever. It's frustrating. So filing the case myself out of suspicion, spies, and the goodness of my heart isn't viable. But...I think I know of a pawn we can use."

"Really? That quickly?"  
I swatted his arm, standing.

"Go back to bed, by lunch I'll be ready to fix this mess."

 _If I haven't already fixed it on my own._

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	24. Chapter 24

It was actually an hour or so after everyone had gone to bed that the planning was complete. I didn't hesitate, unwilling to waste time, telling Reuben, the only one awake, that I was leaving to speak to one of my local contacts. He waved at me from where he was rooting through the fridge, probably not even fully hearing me.

I sharpied up my arms with circles, going chameleon once I was in the shadows. I was about an hour from Southern Headquarters on foot, with me turning the transmutations off once I was out of towns and into wilderness. It would have been quicker to drive or take a train, but I didn't want this traceable in any way. On the way there I transmuted one of my black coats into a more old fashioned cloak like thing, putting it on and pulling up the hood, throwing my features into shadow.

Getting into Headquarters was just as easy as waltzing into Central Command after hours, with less dogs and more half asleep guys in folding chairs. The office I wanted was occupied, just like my sources said it would be. Now, time for a bit of over the top dramatics.

With a small spark of alchemy smoke filled the room, blocking my entrance via window, unraveling the glass and re-forming it behind me, making it seem as though I'd appeared from the floor. The man jumped, bifocals falling off his face and one spindly hand clutching his heart.

"Wha-who are you!? What are you doing here?"  
I gave an elaborate shrug,

"Who isn't really important, you were right the first time with _what._ I am a crossroads demon."  
"...we aren't at a crossroads."

Smartass.

I huffed, "I'm aware of that, but I'm a demon so I like loopholes. _You_ are at a crossroads in your _life_ , so I am here to make you an offer."

He was starting to get his wits together and look skeptical so I crossed my arms, touching one of the circles there, the smell of sulfur flaring through the air and thick smoke curling around me like an extension of the cloak, blue alchemic light hidden underneath my clothes.

"Are you willing to listen or should I rip the memory of this conversation from your mind and be on my way?"  
He flailed, going pale at the sight and choking slightly on the smell.  
"No, no, it's fine. What do you have to say?"

"Hmph." I twirled my finger in plain sight, activating a circle with my other hand and bringing forth one of several journals from the bigger on the inside pocket located just inside my cloak. Unlike many of those around me lately he didn't ignore the impossibility of it, eyes widening and bugging out of his skull. I tossed them onto his desk and he shrank back, unwilling to touch them. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms again.

"These contain evidence of the crimes committed at the Academy. Don't make me say the name, you know which one."

He looked up from the journals to me then back again.

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"I want you to do a raid of that place, as soon as you can get the men together. If they escape then I'll be most cross with everyone involved."

He spluttered,

"But, but why? What does this offer me? What does it have to do with _you_? Why is a- a _demon_ interested in that place?"  
I tilted my head, face still out of sight.

"Are you an idiot or just not thinking? Finding the proof and acting on it to take down what you humans see as depravity would earn you a major promotion. As well as the information in that purple journal. It depicts everyone within this compound involved in it all. Once Command cleans house it will leave you in a rather nice position."  
The greed shown in his eyes, but he still hesitated.

"But still, what do you want in return? My soul?"  
I snorted,

" _Your_ soul? Sorry, not my type. Those at the Academy promised souls, but I found out they've been sharing them with another group of dark beings. I don't like being cheated on like that. Consider yourself a vessel for my revenge. Now, get cracking or I'm afraid my wrath will have to extend to you as well because speaking of vessels, this one is giving out."

A quick transmutation and the steak in my pocket gave of the stench of rotting meat.

"Poor girl, never knew what hit her. But you have a chance to keep your life and soul, so I would suggest you take it and avoid mentioning me."

I turned, swirling the cloak and he shouted,

"Wait! How am I to contact you?"  
I whirled back around to face him, activating three circles at a time and sagging slightly under the weight of the effort it took. A red glow appeared from under the cloak, with more smoke and sulfur appearing, as well as a low growl seeming to be layered under my voice. The drain on my strength from vibrating those sound waves alone was immense.

"You _don't._ If you are needed I will find you. Do your raid. Our business is done."

I mustered my strength, filling the place with more smoke and sulfur, exiting out the window the same as I'd come in. I hightailed it out of the compound, hiding for half an hour while I waited for the trucks to roll out. He took my word for it and organized the raid. Good boy. A scape goat. The journals could very well have come from spies or anonymous tips, and he would never mention doing a deal with a demon of all things, mainly because no one would believe him if he said it. Hell, he might not even believe it, but it didn't matter.

My victim was chosen well. Stupid enough to most likely fall for it, smart enough to pull off the raid and prosecution, but again stupid enough that the weight of his new position would crush him enough that he wouldn't cause problems in the future. I'd spent several minutes in my mind palace just pouring over lists of Southern personnel to pick the right guy that wasn't actually involved with the whole mess.

I ditched the rotting meat and materials from my smoke and scent show, transmuting my coat back to normal on the walk back. When I finally made it back to the house it was well into the morning and Breda had already returned with food. There was a group effort being made to cook eggs and pancakes. I stumbled through the front door into a very heartwarming scene that I mostly ignored on my way to the shower. I scrubbed away all evidence of the transmutation circles and used a helluva lot more scented soaps and shampoos than I was used to. 'Grandma' kept the bathroom stocked with 'vanilla bean', 'strawberry surprise', 'kiwi wonder', 'brown sugar streusel', and 'pineapple'. I smelled like a fruit basket, but not a hint of sulfur and rotted meat was left.

Riza slipped some clothes into the room while I was distracted, but I still felt her signature through the pulse. A simple black t-shirt and black pants. I hated t-shirts, especially when I was around people. Mainly I hated the high neckline and the feeling of rather slow and gradual strangulation, but lately it was because of the scars. However, it was all I had that didn't smell like my foray into shooting my own episode of 'Supernatural', the other clothes I threw into the wash before following the smell of coffee into the kitchen. I nodded to Breda when he handed me a mug,

"You're a saint."  
"Mmhm, and where have you been then?"  
I sank into a chair, groaning,

"Had a little _chat_ involving crossroad demons and spies. _But_ about half an hour ago there was a Military raid at the Academy. Tomorrow's newspaper should tell us most of what we need to know, even if we have to read in between the lines."

Jeans piece of pancake slid of his fork while he stared at me,

"What, you mean the whole thing is over, just like that? I thought for sure there was more to it."  
I shrugged,

"Nah. But I seem to have forgotten to add the money to the evidence, only the personal possessions of the deceased. Whoops. Guess we'll just have to split it amongst ourselves."

There was silence for a second before everyone lost their minds, Fuery crying anime tears in the corner, Breda waving a fork and sausage in each hand, Fallman full out grinning for once while Riza and Roy smirked at the scene. Jean tackled me into a hug, anime tears falling rapidly,

"You're the best, have I ever told you that Steph?"

He was calling me Steph again. The high from that almost outweighed the way my stomach dropped when he froze and dragged a hand through the air, barely hovering above the silvery scars on my arm. They probably had been able to ignore them before, or just plain not notice them. The others were still buzzing with chatter while Jean frowned at me.

"Is this...like what you said yesterday?"  
I nodded,

"I told you, they just started slicing."

There was silence and I knew at least some of them heard. I coughed slightly,

"Anyway, everyone in Central assumed it was some sort of voluntary thing from my apparently barbaric country, let's keep it that way shall we?"  
He didn't look happy about it but he nodded. Breda slid a plate in front of me,

"Eat, midget. And then go to sleep. We'll scout out the situation and handle getting the kids home discreetly."  
They bustled off, finishing up eating rapidly, some changing clothes and leaving with others beginning to divvy up the money. I washed up my dishes before finding an empty room and collapsing into bed, not able to find sleep for several minutes.

I was awake suddenly, unsure why, but staying frozen in case it was something dangerous. A soft voice filtered from the door and I realized it was the pulse that had woken me, people entering the room when I was sleeping. Riza sighed,

"She...I don't know how she did it."  
A deep rumbling voice came next, familiar in a way that had the hairs on my arms standing on end.

"Does it really matter? She got it done, and she got it done effectively."  
"Aren't you curious? About all those secrets she keeps?"  
"...honestly, yes. But she's right. Everyone has secrets. She's already proved that all we need to do is ask and she'll tell, even if it's not what we want to hear, something she doesn't want to say, or something we won't understand."

"So you're just going to let her get away with it?"  
"With what? Being secretive? She's our ally in this, whatever it is. And I like to think that she's our friend. Come on, we don't want to wake her, I get the feeling she rarely sleeps as it is."

They retreated, leaving me with a sleepy thrill of victory and a small grin. Ha, that was that then. Last time it had taken forever and a day to gain Roy Mustang's trust. This time all it took was a heist and some foreign intel. I rolled over, shuffling the blankets around and tunneling back into my pillows. They could handle things for the moment.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	25. Chapter 25

I had a day to myself in Central to use the last of the vacation time I'd taken, even after we'd gotten the money sorted and erased all evidence of our involvement in things. Rueben was given a cut of the money as thanks for housing us and to help him get into another school since his other one didn't exactly pan out. I used this day to laze around and do some chores as well as alchemic research, and some plotting involving homunculi. Going into work the next day was a struggle, if only because I was in a rather petulant mood of 'don't wanna'. But I made it into the office and started in on my usual work, grumbling about retirement not coming early enough. Maes was in the office, with everyone else being off on some assignment at the Western Headquarters. After a rather hectic few hours he slammed his phone down to sit on the edge of my desk, waggling his eyebrows,

"So, how was the vacation?"

I sat back slowly in my seat, crossing my arms and checking the pulse for potential eavesdroppers.

"Well, I pulled off a heist, convinced a guy to make a deal with a demon, and reupholstered my couch with the leftover time."  
He stared at me for several seconds before he stood up,

"Never mind, I don't want to know what you do in your free time."  
He went back to his desk, looking slightly traumatized. It didn't last long. He reappeared in front of my desk, grinning and holding photos aloft.

"Lookit what Elicia did while you were gone!"

We were only around halfway through with the pictures he had with him when someone burst into the office, breathing heavily and swaying as they saluted,

"Sir! There's been a death of a State Alchemist in Dublith!"

My first thought was Scar and my blood went cold, ice replacing my spine, right up until I remembered it wasn't time yet. Then again, me being here and stepping on so many butterflies…

Maes groaned, rubbing his temples and setting the pictures down on top of my desk.

"Alright, what did everyone up the ladder say about it?"  
The guy shuffled his feet, still trying to catch his breathe.

"The local guys think it's natural, but you know what they say about-"  
"Yeah, yeah, better be thorough. Jeez. I thought it was McAllister's turn to sort out the next shitstorm away from Central?"  
"It is, but the 'next shitstorm' is already going down in Northern Headquarters sir, apparently there are...bears."  
Fucking told them so. I hope they got the info they needed in time, but the fact that they had called in help from Central and recieved it in time for the snow blocking the pass had something good to say about the situation.

Maes looked ready to tear his hair out but he nodded anyway.

"Fine. Everyone is out but Arcaro here, and myself of course. So I guess it's just the two of us on this one. And whatever locals we can coerce into helping."  
I nodded, pulling out desk drawers and shoving things into a duffle bag I kept under the desk at all times,

"I'll secure the equipment, if you'll get some train tickets?"

He dismissed the Sergeant still standing in our office, plopping down in his chair once the door had shut,

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that.

We were on the train in no time, going over the case file and photographs we had so far. It wasn't much to go on, actually, no crime scene photos, even if there wasn't actually a crime. The man had been in his seventies, damn good for Amestris. He was working on medical alchemy, much like Marcoh apparently, but had little to do with the Philosopher's stone, if at all, from what I could read between the lines. Or so I thought, until I came to entire pages of redacted bits. I simply raised an eyebrow at them and placed them back in the folder. If I'd been alone I wouldn't have wasted any time trying to use alchemy to get rid of the black marks covering the text, but with Maes here such an idea was unwise at best.

I figured this would be simple, we'd rule it accidental or natural and then we'd be left to have our run of the town for the night and I could do some valuable reconnaissance and gather information or best yet, start up possibilities for my spy network. It wouldn't be enough time to get anything substantial done, but I could make good use of the time.

I was wrong. Three steps into that office and I knew something was off. The pulse was whack. And I mean, Nature itself was shedding a few tears for whatever the hell was going on here. I took one breath in and had to step out of the room, clutching onto the wall and trying to breathe in decent air. I was very, _very_ glad that the only one there with me was Maes. He stepped into the room, sniffed cautiously, and then stepped back out to observe me worriedly.

"Are you alright? The bodies been removed, there isn't a trace of the smell left."  
I pressed my back to the wall and slid down, sighing and closing my eyes, feeling hesitation in the air before Maes sat down beside me.

"Care to share, Steph?"  
I just closed my eyes tighter for half a second before opening them and tilting my head to look at him.

"Have you ever been to Xing?"  
He blinked slowly at the subject change before shaking his head,

"No, can't say I have."  
"Well, in Xing they practice something called Alkahestry, rather than alchemy. It's similar in some ways, but rather different in others. One way it functions is that near everyone in their country has an extra sense, they tap into the energy of the land and feel through it. They refer to it as the Dragon's Pulse. I... do something similar. Whatever happened in there...is a crime against nature."

I stopped, tilting my head.

"Allow me to prove it, three men are approaching and one woman. They'll come through the doorway on our right in about three seconds."  
I hauled myself to my feet, feeling Maes do the same thing beside me just in time for the predicted group to appear. A forensic team from the local police department. The woman was dressed to the nines and wearing heels, holding a clipboard and curls framing a gentle face. The men were on the chunky side, with matching handlebar mustaches. Maes dismissed them easily enough, saying we'd drop by if we had any questions. After they had been gone for several seconds he turned to me, expression masked.

"Why didn't you share this sooner?"  
"For all I knew you guys could feel it too, just like all of Xing. By the time I knew I was wrong it slipped my mind when it mattered to the conversation. It would be a bit odd to just drop that off on you during dinner."

He facepalmed, sighing explosively before standing up straight and pointing to the room.

"Well, too late now. Are you going to be able to function in there or are you going to have to sit this one out?"  
I scoffed,  
"I've felt worse, believe me. It just...surprised me this time. Won't happen again."  
"Indeed. Well, let's see what we can see then."  
He lead the way back in, stepping more carefully now. I stepped into the middle of the room, ignoring the tape and numbers, shutting my eyes and reaching through the pulse. I evened my breathing and lost myself, floating through it and trying to feel the leftovers, who'd been here and what they'd touched. There was a lot of interference from the police earlier, but I was able to find the source of the taint easily enough. I stepped back hurriedly, motioning Maes from across the expansive office where he was poking around at the desk.

"Come here for a second. I think I have an idea what went wrong."

He placed the journal he'd been leafing through back down and stood at my side, facing the room.

"I don't see it."  
I sighed,

"I haven't done the big reveal yet. You see, I've been tracking the energies of those who've been in this office lately. This includes those police so it was rather difficult to isolate the alchemist in question. Though he wasn't alone. The true events of his his death were covered up by a second party, but thanks to the nosey neighbor they haven't yet had the time to completely fix it up. If we were to go out to lunch and come back in an hour or so I bet we'd find the place exactly as we'd left it, but missing the unseen evidence."  
"And how do you know that?"  
I used the toe of my boot to flick the rug up and fold it over itself to reveal a circle chalked onto the wood.

"Well, this here human transmutation circle wasn't hidden by the dead guy after the transmutation failed and killed him. And the police wouldn't have bothered to cover it up, more work for them."  
Maes was just staring at it in shock, kneeling down and hovering shaking fingers over the chalk line.

"Wh-how do you know what it is? You can't even see all of it."  
I raised an eyebrow while bending down and pulling back more of the rug.

"The energy from all transmutations linger for a little bit at least for those who know what they're looking for. _This_ is going to linger for a while. Alchemists especially are going to get the heebie jeebies from this place for a long time yet. I'm betting even you can feel it, an aura of 'ew' or perhaps 'ick'. You probably attributed it to the fact that someone died here. That's what other's are going to do."

He struggled with words for a few seconds, surveying the circle, his expression lost.

"But...how are you experienced with human transmutation?"  
I stared blankly at the circle before deciding on a half truth I'd already told someone.

"The other day I shared with Roy that it is possible to be drawn into a human transmutation circle and forced to activate it and open the gate beyond. This was from experience. I was trying to save a friend of mine. I wasn't quick enough. But since I wasn't the intended target I escaped with all limbs intact. So yes, I know what this circle is, and I know what the energy from it feels like. Intimately."  
I uncovered the entire circle, grateful that the chair they'd placed on it wasn't the heavy wing-backed one since Maes looked rather unable to assist at the moment. It didn't take long to find the flaws. I stepped carefully over the lines, squatting down and pointing to a set of latin words following the curve of one of the inner circles.

"See this?"  
Maes nodded reluctantly and I continued,

"This is where they went wrong. Plural form where it should be singular. Gate never opened, transmutation failed and the rebound did him in."  
I stood up straight, looking around the room and humming under my breath.

"This would be much easier if the police hadn't already mucked about in here."  
I walked over to the bookcase, most of the tomes were rather dusty, but there were four in a row that had fingerprints in the dust, and tracks from them being dragged off the shelf. I plucked them out and set them on the nearby end table, ignoring the papers already there. Despite still recovering from the shock of all the new information Maes walked over to my side,

"What are you doing now?"  
"Dust, lack of dust. These were moved recently, fingers too thin to be the dead guys. So, whatever notes he had out when he kicked it could be hidden here by our mysterious second party."  
I flipped through the books, taking out the papers and placing them exactly as they were before, courtesy of my damned memory.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't we be bagging that evidence?"  
I shook my head,

"Definitely not."  
I showed him a signature from one of the letters included in the stashed papers that depicted a simpler version of the circle on the floor in front of us.

His eyes widened comically, but the fear I felt through the pulse wasn't nearly as amusing.

"Gen...General Madden. So this…"

"- is part of whatever corruption is within the government. Indeed. So no, we don't want to tangle with these guys at the moment. But we're going to take this information and run straight to our unofficial boss. After we cover up that we know about the cover up and bullshit some reason for his death. Here, avoid the circle and I'll put the rug back."  
He stepped carefully, muttering under his breath about 'damn conspiracies' the entire time. When he reached the edge he glared back at the room in general.

"It doesn't sit right with me, just...letting them get away with whatever they've done here."  
I hmmed as I flipped through the last of the papers before replacing the books, information stored away for later.

"No one is 'getting away with' anything, at best this is a momentary reprieve. Now we know about them, but they don't know we know. So...we'll have to do something with that advantage, won't we?"  
I stepped over the circle lightly, pulling the carpet back delicately as I did.

"Now, ignoring everything I just told you about conspiracy and failed transmutation, what would you put this down as?"  
"...natural causes. Heart attack. That's what the police already concluded, and I wasn't going to say any differently until you did your thing."  
With that we headed out, Maes sitting in the bar at the hotel, waving me off when I offered to sit with him.

"Get your shit done, I know you have plans for this place."

He was wearily clutching something that smelled like whisky so I left him too it, glad as hell he'd deigned to follow my lead for this and heading out into the streets to track wherever homunculi frequented. I nearly ran into one, or their henchman at least. I felt them through the pulse just in time to slip into the nearest shop, glancing out of it to see what could only be one of Greed's chimera. I sighed, about to slip out when a shadow entered my vision.

"Can I help you?"  
The woman was unassuming enough, but I'd met her before, introduced by Edward Elric in another dimension. This woman was fucking terrifying and extremely dangerous. I mustered up a strained smile,

"Ah, sorry ma'am. Just...hiding from someone I _really_ don't want to run into"

She eyed me, unimpressed, and I wished I'd changed out of uniform instead of waiting until after my initial reconnaissance.

"Aren't you a bit...young, to be in the military?"  
"I'm...older than I look?"  
She gave me a deadpan expression and I sighed, shuffling my feet and trying to ignore the fact that her equally dangerous hulk of a husband was out of sight and could possibly sneak up on me.

"I'm foreign. It's either military, impossible taxes, or jail."  
She sighed in understanding,

"Yes, this country can indeed be cruel to outsiders. And even to natives. Why here? Surely your home would be better than being impressed into military service here."  
"It's...gone, Miss."  
Her eyes softened slightly in sympathy,

"Izumi. Izumi Curtis, none of that 'miss' shit. Why don't you sit down…"  
"Stephanie. Stephanie Arcaro."  
"What, no rank?"

"I figured I'd leave the military persona outside the door."

She grinned at me,

"Good choice. Have a seat."  
There was a barstool at the end of the counter that she motioned to and I approached cautiously before struggling up to sit on it.

She set a small cup of tea down in front of me that I wasn't sure where she'd gotten it.

"Tell me of your home."  
Very blunt phrasing, but said gently enough. I curled my fingers around the cup, bringing it up to my lips and sniffing it, taking a small sip. When I was relatively sure it wasn't poisoned I took a deeper one, setting it down carefully.

"I've...had many homes, technically. But I seem to lose all of them. I have high hopes about this one, honestly. Too high, probably."  
She stirred sugar into her own cup, hming.

"Why don't you tell me about the one you lost that sent you running _here_ of all places."

"It was...messed up. The ruler of the country was a power hungry dick who cared more about himself and his end goals than the lives of the people in his country. He strove for war and most of the time he got it. His...illegitimate siblings were dispersed throughout the government and no one knew of the connection, or their networks. It was a nightmare. My friends...they were brothers to me. We worked together to ferret out the networks and...after a lot of mishap and despair we launched a coup. Things were getting better from there but we missed one. Someone stupidly high up the foodchain, and they brought everything toppling down. Now my new family is gone, and my new home as well. I'm just bad luck incarnate I suppose."

She took a sip from her tea before setting the cup down and sighing. Right before giving me a rather solid, stinging smack to the back of the head and barking,

"Pitying yourself will get you nowhere! You're still alive aren't you? You're young, capable, intelligent enough it would seem. Enough of this 'bad luck' bullshit, there's no such thing as 'luck'! There is only effort and hard work. So get out there and work for it!"  
She opened her mouth to say more only to have blood stream forth. It was like her spine had turned to rubber and she nearly slid to the floor. The anime depicted this as amusing. It really, really wasn't. I lunged off the chair, not really catching her, but ending up softening her fall at least. She was huffing, waving her arms, blood still prevalent on the front of her dress and around the corners of her mouth, pooling on the floor under us.

"No, no, I'm fine. This happens all the time."  
I huffed, forcing her to lay flat with a gentle hand.

"Have you ever heard of Xingese Alkahestry? It's like Alchemy only geared towards medicine. I'd appreciate if you kept it quiet that I know it."  
I used the blood on the floor to trace the circle, rapid and sort of sloppy, one of my own creation. I slapped one hand to it and hovered the other over her midsection.

Dear lord the damage. It was a miracle this woman was alive, never mind wandering around and kicking ass several years in the future. Truth had left a big black ball of negative qi around the area, the jerk. As a master Alchemist it probably bothered her more than it would anyone else. Hell, that bad feeling I got from her was from _it_ , actually. Interesting. But now wasn't the time to think of all the possibilities, she was starting to complain. So I gripped the bad qi and with a few twirls of my own energy had it up and moving.

"I would sit still for this, if I were you."

I moved the hand from the circle, not needing the connection anymore at this point and took her own hand, where it was still attempting to wave me off.

"Trust me, this will help."  
I moved it, agitated it, and then drew it out, straight through her skin. However, it didn't want to dissipate, and I had nowhere to put it. After a while the agitated energy flowed to the nearest alchemy compatible receptacle. Me. It appeared as black smoke, leaving her in a rush and hitting me right in the chest, bowling me over and leaving me gasping. I forced it into a closet, like I do most of my worries and ill thoughts, but it was a temporary fix at best, the darkness was leaking out, a familiar multi-faceted, reverberating laugh slipping through just as I added more mental chains. When I came back to myself I was on a couch, in what looked to be a different part of the building I'd just been in. This was supported by Izumi Curtis sitting in a chair next to me, expression blank.

"What have you done, child."  
It didn't really sound like she was asking me but I answered anyway, hauling myself up into a sitting position.

"Well, there was ball of dark, negative energy, or qi, sitting in your gut and only maturing with age, so I agitated it into movement and tricked it outside. However...it needs a medium to exist in and the only medium available…"  
"Was you."  
"Basically."  
She smacked me again, and I didn't see it coming this time either.

"Silly child! Why would you do such a thing!?"  
I hissed, rubbing the back of my head.  
"I was thinking that you were in pain and that I'm capable of jettisoning this bullshit once I find or create a different receptacle. Crystal might work, quartz has some neat alchemic properties."  
"Alchemic, I thought you said you did Alkahestry."  
I winked, standing and dusting off my coat, grimacing at the blood.  
"Ah, well, both, actually. A mish mash. I do my own thing, and fuck all else."  
I put my hands in my pockets, looking around,

"Now, if you could be so kind as to show me the exit? I have some errands to run."  
She stared at me for a while before throwing her head back and downright cackling.

"Kid, you have some nerve. Feel free to stop by again and actually buy something next time."

I reached into my pocket as she lead the way, pulling out my journal and a pen, scratching down a phone number. When she reached the main shop I handed her the paper before brushing past, turning back once I'd reached the door,

"That's my home number, should that...injury of yours give you trouble then call me, or have someone else do it. I'll do my best to offer advice, or come fix it myself if possible. It was a pleasure meeting you, Izumi."  
I left the shop, glaring at where the sun was setting in the distance. This day had been one fuck up after another. I slipped through the city, taking note of what I needed and doubling back when I felt there was more the city was hiding. All the while I had an inner monologue cursing homunculi. Because who else could have given them the information for that circle? This state alchemist hadn't been strong enough to get the gate open, or perhaps the one he was reaching or wasn't actually dead. Either way, there hadn't been blood, or any sign of remains so there wasn't an extra homunculus running around.

That brought the homunculi back to mind. I couldn't do as I had done last time. I couldn't just wait for events to happen and then fuck up what I could while getting out of the way as best as possible when shit hit the fan. I was going to have to tear up the tapestry of fate and spin a new one. Joy. First thing first. I was going to have to make some friends in Dublith.

 **Special thanks to jessicamathews65 for inadvertently reminding me this fic exists.**

 **Also, a special request from moi, to all of you guys. If you liked River of Opals it's up on AO3, and shortly enough there will be a sequel up, a sequel that isn't Of Emeralds and Opals, but rather the one that came in second in that poll I did forever and a day ago, asking about where she should go. Please go give that attention.**

 **As always, please review.**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	26. Chapter 26

After the alkahestry revelations with Maes he ended up at my apartment rather more often than usual so that we could go over information for Roy somewhere we knew for sure wasn't bugged and that no one would walk in at an inopportune time. It was a strange parody of having Jean nearby like before, but I could deal. These evenings mostly consisted of papers strewn everywhere and one or both of us swearing a blue streak when something unexpected popped up. I usually fiddled with alchemy, feeling a strange drain in my core where the dark qi now resided. I'd had little luck shoving it into random objects, though parts of it tended to attach to crystals, though they also tended to explode after a certain amount was shoved in. Once it was free of the crystal it fled back into me, setting me back to square one. It was only really causing general discomfort and increasing energy drain with alchemy use so I wasn't quite desperate yet.

It was during one of these evenings that I had a breakthrough on charging the iPod left behind by Lauren. I could have transmuted a charger cord, but I wasn't always in a position where I could plug shit like that in. I'd already transmuted earbuds, in anticipation of when I would finally have access to music from my world. I fiddled with the transmutation, switching lines iddly and not expecting for sparks to fly as everything clicked into place. The little white apple appeared on the previously blank screen and I couldn't help but throw my hands in the air, screeching in victory. Maes looked up from his papers, bemused.

"Finally get that thing to do something?"  
I punched the air as it continued to power up, grinning madly.

"Hell yeah! This little baby plays music from home, and you my friend are going to get a taste of it."

Figuring out the unlock code was easy enough, took only a few seconds. The apps appeared and I wasted no time slamming the music note, hitting something at random and letting the first few chords of Radioactive drift through the air. It struck me that some of my deception would fall apart when the language sung on most of these songs was definitely not Italian, but the thrill didn't leave me, until the words came. It wasn't English. Something was very, very wrong. I picked the iPod back up, Maes coughing lightly in the background,

"Erm, that's nice Steph. Weird, magic music machine and all that."

He went back about his business, unphased by the strangeness that was freaking me the fuck out but then again, he didn't expect to be able to understand what came out of it. This wasn't English. But….I plugged in the headphones, tucking the perfectly fitting buds into my ears and bringing out a blank journal I'd been saving for a rainy day project. This certainly qualified. I searched my memory for the song, writing the lyrics exactly as they should be. I changed ink colors and restarted the song, over each word writing the word that I now heard instead. This did something for my 'language' theory. Things were switched around, I was hearing people speak English, could use English puns, metaphors, homonyms, reference the alphabet, write in pure English (as _pure_ as English could get at least), and they understood it perfect. Take one from here and stick them with me in a different dimension that has English and suddenly I'm back to English and they speak German. The songs on the iPod had a roughly German feel to them, so perhaps it was reversed now. Everyone here spoke English, while everyone there spoke German, put these people somewhere else and so would they. I spoke English everywhere, as well as some Italian and Drachman. Well, now it was time to add German to the list.

This was annoying in some ways, that my music was taken from me but still here, but in another it was hella useful. If this Edward was shoved through the gate again, as he was supposed to be, then he wouldn't know Drachman. He wouldn't have the will to sit down and learn it in this point of his life, nor would he have reason to beyond me saying it's useful. So we would have no way to communicate like before. And let's face it, there's no way I'm letting him go alone if he has to go at all. If we're lucky Truth will shove us through to the Marvel Universe again so I can see all those guys. But as much of a silver lining as that would be the situation itself would suck. I had to factor in how to keep Dante from getting to Edward, keep Hoenheim from ending up in Germany, if he wasn't already, keep Envy from fucking with everyone, and learn German just in fucking case. Because I was not getting dropped in Nazi Germany with a friend I had no way to communicate with while speaking American English. Worst came to worst I could use Russian and pretend to be one of those guys, but then I would have to explain my lack of passport or papers, which was also a bitch.

I was snapped out of my most likely unnecessary musings when Maes tapped on my shoulder, I pulled out the earbuds, wincing when I realized how loudly that must have been blaring before.

"Sorry to interrupt your trip down memory lane but some of those items you flagged are being ordered in the flagged area around Dublith. Water, carbon, ammonia, lime, phosphorus, salt, saltpeter, sulfur, fluorine, iron, silicon, and some other stuff, but it was ordered in bulk for all of this."

I couldn't seem to catch my breath. Human transmutation. I'd flagged those together on our watch list just as a precaution, but for it to actually come up...I jumped up from my seat, breathing hard and rushing around the room, slamming things into a bag.

"Shit shit shit shit shit-"

Maes stepped in my way, hands up in a way meant to calm me.

"Hey, hey, what's the rush? Going somewhere?"  
"Dublith, to follow that shipment. Whoever the hell is receiving it is about to attempt human transmutation. This is a lead on those who are giving out the know-how of the taboo to people who don't have the skill to back it up. I'm going to follow that shipment and try and find out who the fuck is pulling strings here."

He looked dubious,

"On your own?"  
"Well you're certainly not fucking coming. Think about it, me and all the guys at Eastern disappearing when the shit goes down in the South? Then you and me go missing and most likely pull shit in Dublith? I'd be a link, it would make a pattern, and all of us would go down in flames."

He hit his head against the table, groaning.

"My life was simple before you ambled in. I hope you know that."  
I hesitated for a second,

"You know...you could get out of this. You tell me you don't want anything to do with this dangerous shit and you're out, done. You don't have to worry about any more of it. Clean break."

He snorted derisively before picking his head up, glaring at me playfully,

"As if, what would you guys do without normal ole me to keep you down to earth? Now, what needs to be done in your absence?"  
I shrugged,

"Tell everyone I'm sick as a dog, I can't take more vacation days, again pattern. Maybe tell everyone about how your wonderful wife is nice enough to bring poor me food or something. Just be yourself. Perhaps throw in a bit of whining about how I'm not around to help with paperwork."  
He agreed to make a show of missing my absence, resolving to actually send Gracia by with food. They had a copy of the spare key to my place over at their house, he said he would tell her to just take it inside, stay for a minute or so, leave it in the fridge, and lock the door behind her. Gracia was a tough soul, behind that housewife exterior. I knew that much from the underground newspaper in the previous dimension. Just to be convincing she'd probably even call him at work afterwards to croon over poor ill me on an unsecured line so everyone could know that I was definitely not taking this illness like a man.

Either way there probably weren't eyes on me yet, No one dangerous knew that I was even aware of the game, never mind a major player. I'd told Roy I was a pawn, but this is ThreeChess, I'm a king and I just happen to be making deals under the table to be on Roy's side. But really, the game hadn't even technically started yet. Not for us, though again technically the game began some odd hundred years ago when Dante and Hohenheim first jumped bodies.

I disguised myself that evening before slipping out the window and making my way to the train station, buying a ticket while looking thoroughly not like myself with a headscarf, khaki's, flowery blouse, tight long sleeved white shirt under it, and sunglasses. I stopped a town before Dublith, changing into my usual dark and sneaky sort of outfit before slipping off into the wilderness, feeling through the pulse for anyone who might be following me. There was nothing, even when I made it to Dublith and found the warehouse that had ordered the supplies. I hid in the shadows, watching people come and go. I might be a bit early for anything, but hey. It was Wednesday. If anything I could spend a few day's 'ill' and then the weekend as well. I bummed it in the alleyways, eating protein bars from my bag and just all around having an old fashioned stakeout, minus car, fast food, and partner. It was rather boring work, and it didn't pay off until around midnight on Friday going into Saturday.

The people entering the warehouse picked up, with a car coming by at one point, radiating a certain energy through the pulse that I was familiar with. Envy was in that car. I couldn't see from my position as a faux hobo, but he most likely was not dressed as himself. Papers were handed from inside the car to the guy they dropped off, and it drove away, homunculi with it. He wasn't staying to watch the fun then. I slipped through the defenses in the warehouse, following the progress of the man short, round, sweaty man with the papers. I crawled along the rafters, keeping out of sight just by virtue of the fact that no one ever looks up. The men from inside had left, but several crates were opened and a place cleared. 'Short and sweaty' measured out exact amounts of each thing, setting them in a rather large _cauldron,_ of all things, before rather painstakingly sketching out an incorrect Human Transmutation circle. He was going to die. I had few options. I could jump from the rafters and put on the crossroads demon persona, but then where would I be? There was nothing I wanted from him, if I asked for information he would question my status as demon and it would fall apart. He could betray me and tell the homunculi about me which would spark interest I didn't want, even if it was doubtful they could figure out it's me. I could cause a distraction or some sort, disrupt the circle so he never tries it. But he would just relocate and do so again. The only real option other than revealing myself or fixing the circle on the sly was to let him die.

I had felt the car with the homunculi in it stop, he was hanging around, probably to do something afterwards with the corpse, like hide it. He had to have known the information was wrong, or perhaps that was part of the test, to see if the alchemist noticed the errors. All in all, the only real option where I came out on top was to let this man die and watch the fallout. So I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood once the screaming started, but didn't move from my vantage point hidden high in the shadows. It didn't take long for the doors to open and two homunculi to come through. Shit, shit, shit, shit, I had _not_ been expecting Gluttony. I drew myself tighter into the corner, praying he didn't smell me. I sucked my lip into my mouth to keep the blood inside and hopefully out of range. Stupid, stupid, stupid, they travel in _pairs_ -

"Tsk, tsk, poor bastard. Didn't even notice the glaring errors. Obviously not the sort we need to create stones."

"Can I eat him?"  
"Yes, yes, whatever, just be quick about it. And _clean_ , I don't want to have to mop up your mess as well."

It would have been strangely humanizing to see them grabbing mops and cleaning up the circle and the blood if I hadn't just seen one of them unhinge a jaw and start chomping on a corpse. As it was Gluttony complained several times of smelling human blood, only to have Envy whap him over the head with the mop and point from the mop water to the mess still on the floor.

"What the fuck are you expecting to smell, dumbass?"

It was almost dawn when they left. I tracked their progress through the pulse, limbs shaking when I made my way down to the ground and slipped out of the warehouse. I disguised myself again, catching the train back to Central in a daze. When I got home I put on fluffy pajama pants with a matching flannel top, sitting down at the kitchen table and just staring at it for a while. I'd let an innocent man die. I'd seen his body get eaten by a creature. I'd sat there silently and watched while they mopped up the mess, whistling all the while. Gluttony couldn't whistle and Envy laughed at him for it. But who was the actual monster here? The one's who started it, put it all into motion, or the one who had the opportunity to stop it but did nothing?

I was still sitting there when night fell and a key turned in the lock. Gracia entered, stopping short when she saw me just staring into space. She observed me for a second and finally sighed, putting the soup she had with her in front of me, digging out a spoon.

"Eat, Stephanie. Oh, you're hurt!"

I touched my lip absentmindedly, circling qi sluggishly, feeling an unfamiliar drain. Right, that darkness was still there, and it had apparently kicked it up a notch on the parasite scale. It did that occasionally, just randomly made things a bit more difficult.

I mechanically finished the soup, having a vague memory of Gracia tucking me into bed before my world faded to grey.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	27. Chapter 27

I lay there once I woke up, not moving. I couldn't find the will to get up. Why should I go about my life when that guy couldn't go about his? I'd had the opportunity to save him, but I thought about myself first, about getting caught by the homunculi and making all of my planning so far worthless. I shut myself off from the pulse almost completely, relishing in the agony that racked through me. I felt something, so I was still alive. The black ball of negative qi curled in my gut, trying to spread through me and weigh me down now that the pulse of the world no longer flowed through me to keep it at bay.

I didn't react when my bedroom door opened. Let them kill me, see if I cared right now. The bed sagged under the weight of a human being, one who sighed, voice familiar.

"Gracia said you were back. And not in the best of shape either. Wanna tell me what happened?"  
I didn't really want to speak, but this was Maes. He would find a way to make me talk anyway.

"He...it was an alchemist, attempting to open the gate. The...circle was wrong. There were...creatures, one of them, when it went wrong...it ate his corpse. They aren't human."

I took a deep breath, gathering my wits together as best as I could, it wouldn't due to slip from the plan now that I'd gone so far to keep it on course.

"They're...they didn't see me, didn't know I was there, so they spoke freely. I think...I think they're giving this information to people freely, some of it flawed on purpose as a test. In the end if they succeed then they're talented enough to join them but...their goal...I think they're trying create philosopher's stones."

I heard a sharp intake of breath but didn't look up when he spoke.

"That's…"

I nodded absently, still staring at the wall, pulling the blankets tighter around me.

"What the Elrics are looking for."

I sighed, burying my face into the pillow before turning my head so I could be heard again.

"We can't tell them. It's the best lead they'll have ever had, but we can't tell them. They'd go smashing in full steam ahead, but we don't know what these things are, what they can do, what their full plan is, hell, how far up the government they've infiltrated. This is going to be delicate work, we _can't_ …"

A heavy hand grasped my shoulder, levering me up into a sitting position,

"Come on, Steph. It's going to be alright. We'll figure it out. But we can't just lay here, we can't give up. You lose some, it just happens. So you couldn't save the guy, don't look at me like that, I know you. You're beating yourself up over it. There was no other option, there were multiple creature things, right?"  
"...two."

"See, you were outnumbered, outgunned from the sound of it, and running blind."

I just leaned against him bonelessly, the grey in my mind palace not receding yet. He nudged me.

"Come on, Gracia sent me over with food, it's time you got your ass out of bed. There are things to be done tomorrow. The world doesn't stop for sorrow, you just have to accept things and move on."

When I tried to stand up there was a miscommunication from brain to legs and I ended up face first on the floor. Maes knelt beside me, nudging my shoulder worriedly.

"Stephanie? Are you alright? You aren't hurt, are you?"  
The carpet smells funny. Like lemons, dust, and ink. With an undertone of chalk.

"Stephanie?"  
I twitched my shoulders in an imitation of a shrug.

"I'm...I cut myself off from the pulse. It's...just let me lay here."

He paused for a few seconds, staying still. Then he rolled me over, picking me up bridal style, storming into the living room and dumping me unceremoniously on the couch. I blinked up at the ceiling for several seconds, listening to him fumble around in the kitchen. Some time passed that I didn't pay attention to and suddenly I was being sat upright, a bowl of soup in front of me, and a bottle of soda. He forced the soup into my hands,

"Eat. And when you're done moping over a guy who was defeated by his own stupidity, who was going to join the bad guys anyway, reconnect to that mystical stuff. We need you at your best. You said it yourself earlier, the Elrics are going to want to hunt these guys down. And smart as they are they'll catch wind of them on their own eventually."

I didn't really want to do much of anything. The black ball centered in my chest was spreading, I could feel sharp pains in my gut, and a numbness in my fingers. Maes snapped his fingers and my eyes focused on him, scowling face and all.

"Stephanie! Come on, Arcaro, what would those friends of yours from before say if they saw you now? Just, giving up?"  
They'd slap me and tell me to get over it. I sighed, tentatively opening to the pulse, muscles seizing as the warmth rushed back into me, blackness torn at the edges and shrieking, receding back to it's hideaway at my core. I gasped for breathe, and Maes relaxed slightly,

"You good now?"  
I nodded, blinking rapidly. Wow, not doing that again. What the fuck _was_ that? I frowned down at the soup on the table, thinking out loud for Maes benefit.

"You know that medical project I told you about from Dublith? The woman with the negative qi?"  
He frowned but nodded anyway so I continued.

"I haven't been able to release that junk yet, in my lower moments it crept to the surface, took over some mental functions, convinced me to cut off from the pulse. It...got stronger after that. It's...making it difficult to use alchemy."

Maes sank down into the kitchen chair he'd dragged over near to the couch sometime when I was lost in my own mind.

"So, first priority right now is to get rid of that bullshit, right?"  
I shrugged, picking up the soup,

"If I even can. It won't just float off, it has to have a host, and quartz held some of it, but not enough or long enough to make a difference."

He looked frustrated, huffing and fixing his glasses.

"Why don't you just ask someone from Xing? Didn't you say they knew about this stuff? Find a specialist."  
I waved the suggestion off, mind whirring.

"I don't have the time for that, or the resources. I'd have to actually go to Xing to hunt down someone with that much knowledge and experience, and I don't see the military allowing that. I could sneak out, the borders on that side are pitiful, honestly. But the time, resources, effort, it's just not worth it in the end. I'll figure something out."  
He looked skeptical, and it took a while longer to convince him I was going to be fine eventually. Now if only I believed it myself.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	28. Chapter 28

I managed to do a bit of bullshit pseudo meditation that beat back the blackness further than it had been in quite a while, leaving me at almost my best. After a while Maes dialed back on the watching me like a hawk thing, though he didn't quit completely. Things were relatively normal around headquarters, with my leads from my spy network giving me nothing to work with. The most interesting thing to happen was Roy calling Maes and demanding to speak to me. Maes wiggled his eyebrows at me as he handed the phone over, earning him an elbow to the gut.

"Arcaro here."

"There's an investigation in Briggs. Agents from Central are to be dispatched in the morning, I want you with that group. It's the best lead we've had so far as to the situation."  
I raised an eyebrow, glad that only Maes and I were in the room so I didn't have to bother being respectful.

"Well hello to you too. Really feeling the love over here."

He sighed and I rolled my eyes,

"Yeah, yeah, message received, I'll be on the train to the bear infested mountain first thing tomorrow."

"Good. And Arcaro? Be careful."

He hung up rather abruptly and I stared at the phone, affronted,

"I'm always careful."

Maes snickered, taking the phone from me and replacing it in the cradle.

"Sure you are."

I rolled my eyes at him, walking back over to my desk and pulling out the proper request forms, waving to Maes before I left the office to turn them in. The rest of the day was spent psyching myself up to going to the freezing cold fucking mountain and finally finding out if Olivier Armstrong was alive, or even the same, in this universe. It would make sense for her to have just not been pulled into the loop in the 2003 series because of pure distance. Without Sloth tunneling under Brigs there was no reason to go to her, except for me going with this investigation. If I could get contacts in Briggs then it would make the whole 'coup' thing easier this time around. Last time the Briggs soldiers made up most of our little army, I wasn't very confident in our ability to do it without them if this degenerated to full blown civil war. Again.

When I was released from work I went shopping, picking up some cold weather clothes, having already gotten the usual cold weather uniform, made of thicker material. Once home I packed a bag, out fitting my winter friendly uniform trench coat with a few bigger on the inside pockets. I stared at the flame alchemy glove for a long time before guiltily slotting it into one of the inner pockets. As much as it felt like blasphemy to use it the whole 'snowy mountainside' thing would be much easier to tackle if I had an ace like that up my sleeve if something went wrong. And it usually does.

The next day I showed up at the train station, ready to board the military supply train, bag in hand, only to be met with an unpleasant surprise. Marvin was waiting, bushy hair as untamed as usual, looking pissed about the whole thing. I stopped beside him, raising an eyebrow, which he answered with a rather impressive scowl.

"HQ mandated that more than one officer was needed, I'm in your unit and not on a case, so you're stuck with me."

I tilted my head at him, accepting it. While I would have preferred to work alone I could have gotten a lot worse than Marvin. It would make it a bit difficult to accomplish my alternate agenda, though. The train ride was mostly silent, with us sitting across from each other among crates in a rather cramped setting trying to look over the case files. Two people murdered so far, the only links being that they were both from towns in the eastern part of the country, the boondocks area. Strange that they were stationed in Briggs at all, those from East were usually very competitive with those from the Northern area, it was a well known rivalry. Perhaps that was part of the motive.

It was rather vicious, actually, the murders themselves. I would put the person behind them as a rather angry individual. We'd probably find them angsting in a corner somewhere, but then again, if this person was a genuine psychopath then they could easily be the most charismatic person in the fortress. I slipped off to change clothes before we made it to our destination, changing from my Central friendly uniform to the thicker one more suited to the north. The underarmor was built more for keeping heat in now, though I also layered on some of my homemade lightweight kevlar stuff just to be safe. I also had a beanie that I tucked my hair into and pulled over my ears, with a matching black scarf. The winter uniform coat was rather long, and also helped keep in heat, though I made a mental note to try and do some alchemic jiggery pokery to make it more effective.

When the train stopped we were met by a caravan from Briggs itself. Unlike the Elrics we traveled there with supplies meant for the fortress, and would be carried there with it as well. One Captain Buccaneer met us there, looking us over critically, eyes landing on me for longer than was necessary. Marvin fidgeted under his glance but I just raised an eyebrow. I'd met the guy in another lifetime, attended his funeral. Wasn't fun. It hadn't even had anything to do with homunculi in the end, and wasn't that frustrating. This time around he was staying in the land of the living, thank you very much. After a brief staring contest the Captain nodded to himself before motioning us to the truck we were assigned to. Once again we were squished in between crates, with Buccaneer taking up quite a bit of space himself. Marvin continued to fidget, glancing around rapidly to avoid the soldier's eye. I stared at my companion for a bit before rolling my eyes to the heavens and praying for the patience to deal with him before turning my eyes to the Captain. The canvas over the truck dampened the winds enough that we didn't have to raise our voices much to be heard.

"Captain, care to share the situation surrounding the deceased?"

He turned his eyes from glaring at the floor to looking at me, tilting his head, glare not reducing.

"Situation? They're dead."

I resisted an eyeroll, ignoring how Marvin was trying to elbow me into silence.

"I'm aware of that. How are the others taking it? Their friends, comrades, those left behind. Should myself and my companion be prepared to tread lightly, or will we be left mostly alone?"

He glowered at me, huffing,

"You aren't needed here, and their attitude shall reflect that. We're going to ferret out the traitor and take care of him. It would be best if you stayed out of our way."

Kind of expected that. Briggs was rather separated from the rest of Amestris, and independent enough to reflect that.

I shrugged easily, glancing around at the snow I could see through the cracks in the canvas, circulating the pulse more rapidly in an attempt to raise my temperature and stave off the chill.

"Fine by me. My job is technically just to bring the guy back to Central, they didn't specify what condition he had to be in."

Buccaneer's face was blank as he observed me and I expanded on the statement,

"What, surprised? They were your brothers-in-arms. I understand the investment you have in that. This could all be handled in house, but HQ is full of nosy sons of bitches. We're supplementary helpers at best, but perhaps keep in mind this is our specialty."

He continued to examine me for several more moments before nodding slowly,

"You are not what I expected."

I snorted,

"What _did_ you expect, some pompous man in dress uniform who complains about the cold and has a rather blurred view of his own importance?"  
"...that's what we usually get."

I shrugged again, glancing out of the car again as I saw movement. Shadows against the snow.

"Well, sorry to disappoint."

We stayed silent the rest of the way to the fortress with Marvin darting inside to get away from the bear-like man he'd had to sit in close quarters with. I tossed him my bag before he could get far,

"Carry that in for me, would you?"  
He didn't bother to stop long enough to argue and I rolled my eyes before wandering over the crates of supplies, joining the line of people carrying things in. From what I knew of before this place put a lot of stock in someone who pulled their own weight. As it was I listened to the murmured conversations of the men around me, trying to get a read on the general population. It took almost two hours for everything to get brought in, and more than one of the men nodded to me in thanks before heading inside. When the doors closed it was with a rather solid note of finality. I reached through the pulse while taking a look around, making my way to the room I could feel the most familiar presences in. Marvin was rather nervously sitting at a long table, looking over pictures of a gruesome crime scenes while trying to ignore the icy gaze of Olivier Armstrong. Something in me that had relaxed slightly at Buccaneers existence eased completely at the sight of her, though I still snapped into a salute,

"Major General. Sergeant Arcaro, reporting from Central Investigations Unit."

She glanced at me coolly before nodding, motion to the chair beside Marvin.

"Your associate says that you're the lead on this venture."

I felt Marvin stiffen through the pulse, so I didn't bother to look at him. He probably just didn't want to deal with these tough northern types and was hoping she wouldn't mention to me that he'd admitted such a thing. I inclined my head slightly,

"I am, on the Headquarters side of things, and on paper. However, as this is your jurisdiction we are under your command. I'd hate to get in your way during our stay."

She just hummed as she observed me, doing the same staredown as when we'd first met in another dimension. Finally she stood, motioning to a man stationed at the door.

"Oliver will show you to your rooms. You may begin your investigation in the morning. I suggest you refrain from leaving the fortress. The wilderness here is no place for central city slickers."

I was unable to keep from glancing at Marvin at the jab but saluted anyway, following the officer out of the room. So, Buccaneer was operating under his own initiative in investigating by himself. Without the blessing of the ice queen. Interesting.

Marvin carried the files with us, apparently we were to room together, there were bunk bed shoved into a room, and a desk in the far corner. Marvin waited for 'Oliver' to leave before starting to bitch about it and claiming the top bunk because he apparently knew that heat rises. I ignored him, flipping through the files some more. We were obviously expected to stay put until the morning, so I did. Usually I would take it as a challenge, but Briggs was on high alert, threats from the outside a constant concern and now the unheard of threat from the inside. I slept in a bundle of blankets, wearing my jacket and kevlar still to try and keep some warmth in. It was still cold, even inside the fortress itself.

When morning came Marvin grumbled and padded around grumpily for a while before pulling himself together. I took a shower after him, doing some alchemy to keep the water hot, inwardly cackling about the cheating. Once we were presentable we made our way to the mess hall, following the flow of zombie soldiers chasing the faint smell of coffee. My mind flashed briefly to white doughy creatures stumbling around central before I shook myself. Marvin chose an out of the way table, settling down all of our files and some spare paper, getting to work on theories as we ate.

We spent four mornings like this, parting ways after we ate and doing our own thing. We took looks at the forensic evidence, nothing really, took a trip to the morgue and saw the weapon used was a sword, in some sort of perverted reference to the one Armstrong wielded, maybe. I prowled the halls without Marvin most of the time, popping into the science labs and giving a bit of advice with things I was knowledgable and listening to the theories about the other things. I made myself visible among the men there, and the few women, trying to earn their respect, if not their trust. Midway through the second week there was another murder. I felt the life snuff out through the pulse, so abruptly that it woke me. I sat there, trying to figure out what it was in the few minutes of silence before the alarms went off.

I threw on clothes, storming out the door and following the commotion to where Buccaneer, Armstrong, and Miles were standing over yet another rather gruesome crime scene. I scowled down at it, approaching silently and stretching my sensed to try to take note of the energies around the corpse. Someone familiar...more familiar than it should be for just seeing in the halls of the fortress every now and then. I didn't keep a record of which energy belonged to who, an error apparently. I'd have to search and get that settled eventually. Right now I only had a special book for the important people and homunculi. I suppose I could attach the feeling to the mental files of everyone. But right now I had a body to examine. I knew him, he'd been in a group I'd eaten lunch with on the previous Wednesday. He was also from the east. Perhaps I wasn't so wrong about this being about those proud of the Northern headquarters fierce reputation and took the eastern rivalry a bit too far.

I stepped up beside the Northern officers, waiting until the doctor examining the body finished her work and motioned me forwards. I pulled off my fingerless gloves, pulling on latex ones, ignoring the long look the doctor gave the scars. I couldn't find a lick of evidence. Not a hint of who had done it. They'd either done this before, and had plenty of practice before this streak here, or they knew everything in theory. The only investigations officers here were myself and Marvin. Neither of us were anywhere near here when the first two happened, which made it a locked room mystery of sorts. We were the only two completely clear of blame, though the three officers in front of me were also clear in my mind.

Breakfast the next day was subdued, with conversation consisting of muttering about the murder. A funeral service of sorts was held the next day, as well as a rather moving speech given by the Major General that I'd had to mostly tune out because I could feel the signature of the murderer in the crowd and I was trying to find his face. I wouldn't have the proof to so much as bring him into an interrogation room, but I would _know_. That evening I had tea with the Major General, well, we held tea cups while she snarled over not thinking one of _her_ people was capable of this, and that there must be a spy in our midst. I felt rather lucky that she realized it definitively couldn't be Marvin or me. Despite the fact that we were here _after_ the first few murders it hadn't stopped someone from accusing me of murder before.

Sergeant Scott and his group of friends were usual features near us in the mornings when we shared our evidence and theories, often offering advice about someone who might know something and how to handle them. I was looking over files Marvin had drummed up while Scott was telling a rather inappropriate joke, laughing along with them as I halfheartedly scanned the list of those who had been relatively new to the fortress rosters when it all started, it petering out and dying in my throat when I came to a certain name. The others looked to me immediately where I was staring at a certain name, blood draining from my face. Scott laid a rather large hand on my shoulder, peering at the list then back at me in concern.

"You okay, mini?"

I ignored the nickname, flashing the list at Marvin, pointing to the name.

"Were you aware Arthur Magnus was transferred here?"

Marvin went pale too, snatching the list and slumping in his chair.

"Damn. I knew that he was demoted from Central because of the ass he made of himself in Eastern."

I groaned, rubbing my temple tiredly.

"And no one thought to tell me this? Jesus, you think-?"  
Marvin shrugged, looking uncomfortable and running a hand through the riotous curls piled on top of his head.

"I mean, he's an ass, and he's never made a secret of hating anything and everything from the East, but he wasn't a _psychopath_ …."

I tapped my fingers against the table, searching my memory for the signature. Magnus. Familiar, huh.

"But with how he thought it was his birthright that everyone eat out of his hands or kiss his ass...being brought down to earth by an officer from Eastern might be just the recipe for a psychotic break. Call him into an interview room?"

He scowled at me, huffing,

" _I_ don't want to go find him, _you_ go find him."

He sat up suddenly, brow furrowed, Scott and his men watching the back and forth in silence, slightly concerned.

"Hey, that was partly you, right? The thing in Eastern? You think he'd have a grudge against you?"  
Wariness curled at the edge of my mind as I slowly shook my head,

"He...can't have known they would send me with the group here. I mean, what are the odds?"  
But the thing is, it's entirely possible he noticed the files I was reading up on at Eastern were on Drachma and Briggs. If he put it together that I had an interest then he would assume I would volunteer for the gig. It wasn't impossible, though a bit far in left field.

I sighed,

"Really, there's no way to know for su-"

The klaxons on the walls let out an unholy screech, light blaring. The Briggs soldiers surged out of their seats, throwing on their gear as they went. I glanced at Marvin, seeing the raw fear written there, and sighed. He wasn't made for a fight.  
"You hold down the fort here, maybe prepare the interrogation for Magnus when we all get back."  
He couldn't fully hide the relief. If Drachmans were attacking then he wanted nothing to do with it. I followed Scotts group, finding Armstrong in the halls, scowling and telling us to stand down.

"The men on lookout haven't seen anything, we can't figure out what triggered the alarm. We're going to have to do a full perimeter sweep anyway."

I volunteered to go, of course, anything to get a look out at the perimeter, which is what Roy sent me here for in the first place. I refused to allow myself to regret the decision, even after the gates of Briggs were closing behind us, leaving our group of 7 out in the wild wind and snow of the mountain winter.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	29. Chapter 29

I was trying to keep that refusal for regret in my mind as bullets were showering around us and the bear roared his displeasure at the noise, smashing through the snowbank directly to my right. It was a trap, I'd kind of suspected as much when we got nearly all the way around and a familiar energy approached, leading several other not so familiar energies. I warned the soldiers with me of incoming and we were able to duck out of the way as Magnus and his new Drachman friends opened fire on us. The Drachman in charge barked orders to surround us and I translated under my breath to the Briggs soldiers around me, gun at my side and already drawn to take out the one trying to sneak up on us, while Scott got the one trying to distract us.

"How do'ya know Drachman, anyway, Arcaro?"  
"Is this really the time for questions?"  
I felt a human light approaching from the other side and turned, seeking them out with my eyes before taking the shot.

"Yeah, actually. It's kind of all relevant and important."

I glanced over at Scott, his face covered in freckles that made him look ten years younger than he actually was. The face of a child on the body of a bear. I was distracted from the question when the _actual_ bear lumbered in the way once again, roaring at the world in general. I wasn't sure where it had come from, only that it was very large, very in the way, and very frightening. I whirled out of the path of a hail of gunfire, ducking behind a snowbank, seeing a grenade and tensing to jump away. I paused, noting the pin very much still in place. Really?

I rolled my eyes, pulling the pin and tossing it back at them, going around the bear.

"My aunt was a dancer in a country that used that language, she used it around the house. I didn't even know it was called Drachman until some guy in Eastern caught me using it and explained."

I ignored the response Scott sent my way, trying to find Magnus through the flying snow and sparks, scowling when I saw him, cowering behind some trees.

"I don't suppose I need to point out to you guys who set this trap and why?"  
There was a resounding negative from all around and I noticed that the bear was rambling away from the battlefield. It was good in that it wasn't in the way, but it also wasn't blocking us from the Drachmans anymore. Goody. The most definitive way to end this was alchemy. But revealing that particular ability to Drachmans, and _Magnus_ of all people...I'm sure Scott and his men could be convinced to stay silent, but Magnus...he was a murderer and traitor. It would be all of us against him, and the Drachmans didn't know me, they didn't have much to do with Alchemy. It's the fear of the State Alchemists that keeps them in place, just as much as the impassable fort that is Briggs.

But either way...this needs to be brought to a halt. Good men are in danger, I'm not going to sit back _again_ , with innocents being the ones in the line of fire this time around. The shots stopped, and I paused in sketching a circle in the snow, wondering if they had decided to pull back. No such luck. I heard Magnus speaking, pretentious tones soaring easily across the short distance that separated us.

"Come out, come out, Arcaro. I knew you'd come running here for a nice grisly murder."  
I hesitated before calling back, hoping the mountains around us bounced the sound enough that he couldn't locate my position from the noise.

"Well, I'm here. What's this all about?"  
He snorted, loudly.

"It's not all about _you,_ that's for sure."

His statement was met with silence and he sighed dramatically.

"It's not _always_ about you, dear Sergeant. But you play a small part. I'm going to put those yuppies at Eastern and Central in their place eventually with the help of the Drachmans, but I thought you deserved a front row seat. That's all this is. You're going to die out here in the cold, my men are going to take your men's uniforms, and we're going to march right into the fortress under that bitch's nose. Once Briggs falls, that's it."

I had finished the circle while he spoke, winking at Scott's wide eyed stare in relation to the drawing.

"Well, as _awesome_ as that plan is, I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I quite like the people at Briggs."

He laughed, long and loud, giving me plenty of time to move around the men on my side with various hand gestures.  
" _Let_ me? Please, this isn't even your country. You could step aside, or I could kill you. Either way, Amestris will be dust in the wind."

"Good luck with that."  
I slammed a hand down on the circle, the snow solidifying into ice and rising in great spikes heading straight for their forces hidden behind the scattered trees and rocks. Loud shouts followed, several men not dodging fast enough and ending up impaled. The ones who dodged started yelling about Alchemists and how this wasn't in the contract. Contract.

I hissed to the men beside me trying to recover from the feat they'd just seen,

"Mercenaries. This isn't an act of war on Drachma's part."

Understanding dawned and they scowled, Scott hissing back at me.

"If he failed he was going to cause war anyway!"

I nodded, sketching another circle as chaos reigned on the other side of the no man's land. I listened into their conversations, shouted as loud as they pleased, confident in the fact that none of us would know their language. I murmured to the men around me, keeping them up to date.

"The presence of an alchemist is upping the ante apparently, they're preparing to charge with a small force, the rest are coming in from the left. Their left, I'm guessing, so here on my side."

Charge they did, yelling like madmen the entire time. We were ready for them, a portion of our people concentrating on those guys, the rest of us ready to ambush the ambush. They burst out of the trees, Magnus actually with them, bringing up the rear of course. I slammed my hand down, blue lightning streaking across the ground, splitting it in front of us and separating the two groups. I saw the fury on Magnus' face when he realized it was me who was the alchemist. It was probably this fury that gave him the strength to keep running and leap the gap. He tackled me, dragging me to the ground and away from the transmutation circles I'd drawn. His fist slammed into my cheek and I heard something crack, the pain bringing tears to my eyes. I lashed out despite them, kicking him hard, but he didn't budge, rearing back for another punch.

Something in me fractured at the murder in his eyes, I clapped my hands together, not bothering with a circle, fully willing to just unmake him, Scar style. I was cut off by the sound of a gunshot, and a sharp searing pain in my left leg. Through the pain I saw the Drachman take aim again, trying halfheartedly to avoid Magnus, only to be slammed to the ground by a rather irate Scott. The pain made my vision swim, and I couldn't breathe from Magnus sitting on my chest and yelling something about honor and his place in the world. I felt him slam another hit, this one glancing the same place on my cheekbone, white hot pain blinding me again. Logic failed me, and I reached up with my right hand, only thinking to _stop the pain_. His hands were around my neck now, I felt through the pulse for a circle on my arm, his negative energy sparking an idea. I changed the flow, aiming instead for that ball of evil inside me. I dragged it forwards, coaxing it none too gently out and then _in_.

The black smoke left me, seemingly fleeing the pores of my skin and sinking into Magnus, turning his skin grey almost immediately. He _screamed_ , letting go and scratching at his face where I'd touched, nails digging in and drawing blood immediately. Well, that answered what happens when non alchemists are exposed to the negative qi that sickens even the most advanced of the disciplined.

Magnus staggered a few steps away only to fall to the ground and lay there, unmoving. Scott checked him for a pulse and helped me bandage my leg, letting me lean on him as we made the long trek through the mountains back to the fortress. Most of us were covered in blood, and we looked much the worse for wear. The doors to the fortress opened for us immediately and I felt a chill that was entirely separate from the cold. Magnus could have succeeded. If it weren't for me he never would have ended up in Eastern, gotten that demotion, and then sent here. I'd righted the wrong, but still, if it weren't for me it wouldn't have happened. I was _stomping_ on these motherfucking butterflies.

The Major General was waiting for us once we were inside, all of us straightening and saluting, with several sending me concerned looks. I could feel the bruises forming on my face, and my leg was _throbbing._ I was probably paler than the snow outside and my toes were starting to feel funny. Probably blood loss. She looked me over, raising an eyebrow and I gave a slight shrug before clearing my throat, ignoring Marvin's pale face peering from behind her.

"Drachman mercenaries. We also found the traitor slash murderer."

She frowned,

"And where is he?"  
I coughed, jerking my thumb behind me to the now closed doors.

"Out in the snow with the Drachmans."

She rolled her eyes,

"Of course he is."

She might have tried to say something else after that but the next thing I knew I was staring at the ceiling in the medical room. I blinked a few times before glancing down at my leg, which was throbbing dully. Marvin's petulant voice spoke from the chair by my bed, and I turned to see him sitting there with his arms crossed.

"They dug out the bullet, put it over there in that vial. Thought you'd want to keep it for some ridiculous reason. Damnit Arcaro, Hughes is going to kill me for bringing you back broken!"

We were sent back to Central almost immediately, with me being transferred to Central hospital as quickly as possible before snow filled the pass again and I was stuck there in the lesser facility. I did end up keeping the bullet in the vial, much to Marvin's consternation. It was my second day in Central Military Hospital when a rather peeved Jean Havoc marched into my room,

"When the chief said gather info, he did _not_ mean get yourself-"

He stopped, taking in the dark bruises taking up the better part of the left side of my face from where Magnus had used his right fist, as well as the nurse changing the bandages around my leg.  
"Jeez, what _did_ you do to yourself?"  
I scowled at him,

"I was shot, thank you very much, and I didn't do it to myself."

He stood by the door silently until the nurse had left, only then approaching and sitting heavily in the chair by the bed. A familiar sight, him by my hospital bed. I pushed the thought away, this was the first time this Jean had visited me when injured.

"Chief sent me to get what you'd found."

Of course that's why he's here. I tried not to be hurt by that, handing over the unofficial report I'd written, coded as usual, and stuffed under my pillow. Jean raised an eyebrow at the hiding place but didn't question me, stuffing it into his pocket and standing up. He hesitated, looking me over before sighing,

"Hughes told us it was Magnus."

I shrugged,

"Yup. Had a psychotic break, brutally murdered three people and tried to hand Amestris over to some Drachman mercenaries."

Jean looked at me long and hard before sighing, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Just...take a break for a while, okay? No plotting, no heists, no, no mercenaries, for a while, okay?"  
I winked,

"No promises."  
He gave me a bemused smile, looking over at the IV,

"You're drugged aren't you?"  
"Higher than a kite, my friend. I'm on the good stuff. Send dear Roy Boy my love, ruffle Kain's hair for me, also, tell Breda that Fortworth is a cunt and deserves to be pelted with a thousand rubber ducks. Fallman needs to drink more chamomile, and Riza...erm, I love her hair?"

Jean snorted,

"Oh yeah, I'll be sure to relay _all_ of that."

He left shortly afterwards, leaving me to watch in fascination as the dust filtered through the light until I faded out of consciousness.

 **HIATUS FOR ALL STORIES UNTIL NOVEMBER 2017. I sincerely apologize, but there's no way around it. Guaranteed chapters for all stories in November.**

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


	30. Chapter 30

~( **I'm back, lovlies) Last time on 'Of Emeralds and Opals': Stephanie Arcaro was laid up in a hospital bed, high as a kite, with a barely healing bullet wound. She's freshly returned from Briggs Fortress, where a few friendly soldiers are in the know about her alchemic ability and 100% willing to stay silent to help out a friend. Now, on with the show, I believe you've waited long enough.**

Even with the seemingly supernatural ability to speed up the production of cells recovery was slow. The baffled doctors still allowed me to leave the hospital, even though they weren't happy with not completely understanding what was going on. Marvin was a surprisingly big help when I was hobbling around the office in crutches, though his attitude thankfully hadn't changed much. I was able to peg it as guilt and move on rather than suspecting he was Envy in a disguise I finally couldn't see through.

Obviously with a bullet hole in my leg I was benched for the foreseeable future, giving me plenty of time for all sorts of research. Most of it wasn't exactly the wholesome sort of stuff I could display at work, and was best left for home with the curtains closed and sound blockers in place. Maes was a good sounding board for theories most of the time, and the evenings he visited he brought food from his wonderful wife, so pretty awesome all around. However, the best days were the ones when the Cat visited. I had a bad habit of leaving the window of my bedroom open for airflow reasons, and I wasn't worried about the security risk because it was too small for a person and guarded thoroughly against homunculi.

My story almost ended with a heart attack while sitting at my kitchen table because something brushed against my leg. Alchemy had flared from my fingertips and given the Cat a scare in return, but we reconciled over a bowl of milk. The Cat had me whipped from day one, I bought cat food and bowls, and a collar that wouldn't stay on it. The Cat refused to respond to any name no matter how much I tried to make it stick, so Cat it remained. It was a strange thing, medium size with long fur that was constantly dirty from running around the alleys of Central. I brushed it every once in awhile but it's true color was still hidden somewhere under layers of grime that wouldn't leave except for the bath that I was too much of a coward to enforce.

But that was irrelevant, all I needed to see was ribs and large green eyes before the thing was 'mine' in all ways that counted. It didn't matter that it hardly ever stayed the night and almost never showed up two days in a row, the Cat was mine and that was that. The Cat was there when Roy called for the first time since the incident at Briggs, the chime of the phone sending the fuzzball careening out of my lap and towards my bedroom, where I knew it would be making an escape.

I scowled at the offending object as I answered,

"This had better be good."

The deep, familiar voice sounded vaguely amused as it crackled over the line,

"In the middle of something, Arcaro?"

After once again resolving to invent caller ID somehow I shrugged off the question,

"What do you need, Mustang?"  
Suddenly, he was all business.

"I need an assessment on the battle readiness of the Brigadier General's personal guard."

"That was in my report, page thirteen, fourth paragraph."

"...you wrote that while on drugs, I'd like clarification."

Fair enough.

"They're perfectly ready for anything that comes their way, paranoid as hell and perfect examples of everything Central likes to brag that Briggs has. I couldn't find a hole in their routines too easily, but then again I couldn't exactly dedicate my full attention to it at the time. And quite frankly, I have no wish to go back anytime soon. With all due respect, it's fucking cold there."

Roy laughed loudly, quieting quickly in a way that told me Riza was prowling nearby with paperwork.

"Alright, that makes more sense than 'big as bears, not even a circle in the sand is a good idea'."

I snorted at my own reference and he sighed,

"This isn't funny, do you have any idea how long I spent trying to decode the doodle saying 'no ovals, ovals equal mauling'? There's no meaning to it, is there?"

I dissolved into snickers and beamed as the Cat crept back into the room and stretched out in front of the warm oven that currently contained my best attempt at a lasagna. I cleared my throat as I found myself wishing Jean was here to complete the picture of 'home' and pushed my thoughts more towards work.

"Is there anything else you need addressing?"

"Well I'm quite curious about why page forty-two admits relief that the 'ice queen' exists here,-" my heart stopped, blood rushing in my ears and I couldn't catch my breath until he continued, "-but I'm going to blame it on a girl crush and drugs."

I forced a laugh, "You caught me, Mustang."

"You do know that she doesn't...swing that way, right? But I mean, it's, _okay_ to swing, _that way_ , just um know that it, uh,-"  
I paused in checking the lasagna, blinking slowly to gather thoughts and switch gears from panic to confusion, finally getting myself together enough to cut him off.

"-are you...are we really going to have this conversation?"

"...do we need to?"

"No."

"...good."

Before I could stop myself I was laughing again, closing the oven with a loud 'snap' that Mustang no doubt heard. He cleared his throat,

"Are you still on drugs?"  
"Oh, yeah. Will be for another week or so."

"Only another _week_? You were shot, surely-"

"I'm _fine_ , just focus on your reports and shit, I've got an interesting piece of information from Liore of all places I'd like to look into."

"And Maes is just going to let you run off to Liore in the state you're in?"  
"Hell no, I've got minions of my own, you know. I'm sure you remember one of them, if not the feast at his grandmother's house."

Breda had provided us with a truly momentous amount and variety of food the day after our operations closing down the 'shitty school of death' as I'd heard Jean refer to it. I thought fondly of the apple pie he'd picked up at the market, yanked back to the present when Roy sighed.

"You're thinking of that pie again, aren't you? Riza keeps saying that she has the book with the recipe for it, but you never admit to wanting it."

"Ha, as if I could bake, even with a recipe." The wilting lasagna spoke to that.

"You know, alchemy was born in the kitchen. Any decent alchemist can cook with a recipe."

Red flags were thrown and warning klaxons went off in my head, with suspicion curling towards Maes, as the only one who knew of my ability and would be likely to tell Mustang. I couldn't see Ed sharing that at this point in his life. Deflect, deflect!

"Are you trying to rub it in my face that you can cook, Mr. Alchemist? In that case, feel free to bake me a pie. In fact, I demand a pie. Prove it, hot head. Pie me."

He sighed, ignoring the levity I was attempting to bring back to the conversation without instigating another 'Big Gay Freakout' on my behalf.

"This line is secure, you've said so yourself. It's not hard to put together that you know your way around a transmutation circle, and then with the Truth...you've admitted that I'm in charge. I can't work properly without all of the information."

In that moment, with only the quiet of my apartment and his voice, soft and familiar, in my ear...I wanted to tell him everything. I knew better of course, some of it had no proof, and the rest wouldn't endear me to him at all for the lies-by-omission that I'd told so far. Still, I could share some, I _knew_ him, I could trust him. In that moment I wasn't sure why I had to keep secrets in the first place, only that they needed to stay intact. That man's voice is a lethal weapon, I swear.

With a heavy sigh I collapsed back into my seat, eyeing the frankly pitiful lasagna resting on top of the stove with half an eye to make sure Cat left it alone.

"Fine. Confession time. I am an alchemist. I've dabbled so much that I've combined it with Xingese Alkahestry and created something almost entirely new and possess the know-how to transmute anything from the human spinal cord to over a hundred different types of liquor. Any and all tech I've handed over to you is powered by alchemy, was created with alchemy, and is continuing to work through alchemy. I'm almost completely self taught, there are probably over a million ways to do what I do only better, and I would certify with the state to make things easier on me if I wasn't absolutely certain that the corrupt who are attempting to end this nation are actually lead by the Fuhrer himself, and if that asshole cat gets any closer to my lasagna I'm calling him Garfield for the rest of his days, so help me God."

Near the end I leapt for the stove, scooping the cat away from the food and almost unplugging the phone from the wall. Through the slight scuffle I only heard a faint 'what' from the phone, followed by a rough sounding cough. Once I settled again I focused once more.

"What part of that needs clarification? Also, don't let Jean smoke in the office anymore, you're _all_ developing a smokers cough."  
"...all of it? Mostly the bit about the Fuhrer. What...how? _Why_ would he trying to bring down his own country? And I don't _let_ Jean do anything, it just sort of happens."  
"Psh, Jeans got you whipped. As for the Fuhrer bit, I'm working on it, Mustang. It's slow going, things would be easier if I weren't military. I can go roughly two weeks with no sleep before I just shut down, but by day 12 I'm not going to be functioning at full capacity, so making it a night job to investigate this bullshit won't work for long."

"How the hell-?"

"No circadian rhythm. But even without it I'm going to die without rest every once in awhile and quite frankly it gets uncomfortable once I pass when a normal human would have just checked out. Since it's sharing time, might as well add that I have a photographic memory, if you could call it that. I played in an orchestra roughly six years ago, but I can still tell you that the fucker in the fourth row, seat twelve, was sleeping and it _still_ pisses me off."

After a beat of silence I continued,

"Any other questions you want to ask while I'm drugged and feeling chatty?"  
"...no. I had already assumed that you knew some form of medical alchemy from your story with your fingers...and it makes sense about your sleep schedule that you've received no marks on your record for shoddy work but still have time for the... _other_ things."

There was a beat of silence before he drew in a deep breath,

"You've seen the truth. That means you don't need a circle to do alchemy."

"Indeed I do not. I prefer to use one, though. Orders my thoughts, makes it less likely for something to rebound, or fuck up. I'm not nearly as good at it as Edward is."

The sudden silence reminded me of something and I sighed,

"Yeah, I know. I know what happened, and why, and what they're looking for, and I've got ears to the ground on that, too. It's lead to some interesting discoveries that I'm not quite ready to let him in on yet."

"It would see as if you've got the situation more in hand than I do."

I snorted,

"Oh, don't worry. You're very much in charge, Mustang. If I haven't shared something I know with you it's because you already know it, or I don't have the proof I think I'll need just yet."

"So the thing about the Fuhrer?"

"I'll get you a report on it as soon as I check the thing in Liore out."

"The 'thing'? Is that what you're calling it?"

I sighed deeply and ignored the way the Cat was giving me the cold shoulder for the lasagna debacle, scooping it up anyway.

"Yes, 'the thing'. I am a 'sort of' scientist, not a word smith. Speaking of, don't you have paperwork to be doing?"

This was met with silence, and I snorted.

"You've told Riza that this is imperative to national security, or something, haven't you?"

I was still cackling a few minutes later when I relayed Roy's procrastination to Maes over the phone, ending the call with a giggled, 'never let him live it down'. I conveniently ignored my own stack of paperwork on the table that had yet to be looked at.

 **~TimeLordOfPie**


End file.
